  Jake Utway woke from a restless doze as the car bumped over the rough road behind Camp Lenape. He looked about him with sleep-sodden eyes as the driver, Frank, drew up outside the lodge. There was a light in the Chief’s office, and the Chief himself must have heard the noise of their motor, for he appeared at once, holding up a lantern so that he could see the newcomers. His face lighted up as he saw Jake, huddled in the back of the machine beside the warden of Elmville. “Well, there you are at last!” he exclaimed with a sigh of relief. “Jerry has been in bed for an hour, and I stayed up on the chance that I might hear something of you. Now that you’re really here, I admit that a big load is off my mind.” He turned to the warden. “I don’t know how to thank you, sir, for picking up the boys as you have done. I’m sorry that two Lenape fellows have caused you so much trouble.” “No trouble!” cried the warden genially. “Now, let’s not keep young Jake here away from his bed any longer with all our talk. He’s earned a good night’s sleep.” “That so? Well, hop along, Jake. We’ll talk this over with you and your brother in the morning.” The words sounded ominous, but Jake was too tired to worry about what the morning would bring. He stumbled off toward Tent Ten, hardly aware of what he was doing; but as he left, he heard the Chief invite the two men into the lodge for a cup of coffee, and the three of them disappeared into the building talking together in confidential tones. Jake fell like a log upon his bunk, without taking off any of his stained garments; but Mr. Avery was awake, and soon tucked the worn-out boy between his blankets. The next morning, after breakfast, the Utway twins stood outside the door of the Chief’s office with beating hearts. They had not been given any chance to speak to each other since their separate returns to camp late the previous night; and now that they were back in the familiar scenes of Lenape, their wild adventure seemed like a mad dream. How could they have run away from camp without thinking of the worry and trouble that this disobedient act would cause their leaders and the Chief? Jerry knocked shakily upon the door. At the call of “Come in!” the two culprits entered the office and stood waiting for judgment. They could not read the look on the Chief’s face as he stood regarding them quizzically. “We-ell!” he said slowly, and paused. “We—we’re sorry, Chief!” blurted out Jerry. “We didn’t think about making a lot of trouble for you and our leaders. We just wanted to help—— But I guess it’s no use trying to tell how we felt about it.” “Do you think you did right in leaving Lenape without telling anybody?” Jerry shook his head miserably. “What about you, Jake?” “I’m sorry too, Chief. We thought we were helping Burk, but maybe we were wrong. When you put it up to us that way, it makes us feel as if we—we——” The man nodded. “I could talk to you for an hour about camp discipline, and it wouldn’t mean as much to you as those words of yours mean, boys. Your own consciences are better judges than I could ever hope to be. And I won’t say that you didn’t have some excuse. As things have turned out, no harm has been done, luckily for you.” The Chief tapped with a pencil on his desk for an instant, and then began speaking softly, almost to himself. “I talked with the warden last night after you went to bed, Jake. And he said several things about you boys which I won’t repeat; but he made me see that Lenape hasn’t done all it might do for you two. From now on, I shall expect you to use all your extra energy in being better campers. You both have lots of pep, and in Burk’s case your efforts turned out to be of great value. Keep on putting that pep to work to help the other fellow at Lenape! You know how to do it.” He rose with a smile, and held out his hand. The twins straightened, and looked their leader full in the eyes. “Thanks, Chief,” said Jerry huskily. “We’ll try.” “We sure will!” added Jake. Silently the Chief took their hands, and gave each a hearty grip. “Oh, by the way, boys,” he said, as they turned to go, “I have some news for you. Last night the warden told me some things about this fellow Burk that interested me a lot. When he’s free again, as he should be if the warden means what he says, I shouldn’t be surprised if I could find a job around camp where Burk might be of use.” Jake and Jerry Utway held back their feelings until they were almost out on the porch. Then they broke loose. “Hurray for Chief!” they shouted. “Yay, Chief! Yay, Lenape!” The hospital tent was full to overflowing with laughing boys. In the midst of them, clad in pajamas, Sherlock Jones sat up in a comfortable white bed, leaning back on his pillows with sparkling eyes. Now and then he paused in his talk to blow his long nose resoundingly, but otherwise seemed none the worse for his adventure on the mountain and his wetting in the brook when the hounds were on his trail. He was the center of interest, and it was plain to be seen that he was enjoying his brief moment in the limelight of fame. About him sat or stood all the members of the Tent Ten group, and a number of other boys who listened joyously to his tale. Chink Towner and Wild Willie Sanders perched at the foot of his bed; Fat Crampton, with wide eyes and open mouth, hung upon his words; Steve Link was there, and Sunfish Linder, and Spaghetti Megaro, and many others. “And were you scared when those big bloodhounds jumped up at the tree and tried to get you?” piped up little Pete Lister. “Say, I hung on and said my prayers!” answered Sherlock amid laughter. “But pretty soon along came a man named Harris, and he chained ’em up, and after that it was all right.” “But how did Jake and the man get away so quick?” asked Soapy Mullins. “You’ll have to ask him that.” “I tried to ask him this morning,” put in Lefkowitz, “but he wouldn’t tell me a thing. But he came to camp real late last night; I was awake and saw him get here.” “We’ll know all about it pretty soon,” observed Gil Shelton, who was sitting on the steps of the tent. “Here they both come now, up from the lodge. Guess they want to see you, Sherlock.” Sherlock drew forth his handkerchief. “I used to think I was some punkins as a detective,” he announced, “but I’ll say right here that the Utway twins have got it all over me when it comes to solving mysteries. From now on, I resign! A thousand mysteries can happen around this camp, and I won’t lift my little finger!” A low cheer broke forth as the two brothers stepped into the shadow of the tent-house. “Yay, Jake! Yay, Jerry!” Jake grinned. “Hello, Sherlock, old boy! How have you been since I last saw you? Get down that tree all right?” Sherlock smiled back. “I’m all right. How are you two?” “We’re cinders,” announced Jerry. “We’ve just been listening to the Chief, and boy, we’re never going to run away from camp again! From now on, I’m going to be the best little boy you ever saw. And I really mean it. I felt like a penny waiting for change after the Chief got through talking. Man, I’d sooner get pinched by the cops ten times, than have the Chief look at me like that again!” “You said it,” added Jake. “I’d rather get shot at ten times than feel as low as I did just now. But the Chief is one grand fellow. He made us see how wrong we were to run away from Lenape the way we did, but he knew what really happened, and said he hoped Burk would get his pardon soon, and that he’d find a job around camp for Burk to do when he got out!” “But what did happen?” “How did Burk get caught?” “Where were you all the time?” Questions rose from a dozen clamorous throats, and the crowd of excited campers closed in about the two brothers. “Well,” said Jerry slowly, “it’ll take a long time to tell. We were only away from camp for one day, but boy, what a day!” “It seemed like a hundred years!” agreed Jake. “And say, wasn’t that farmer kid surprised when we drove up last night and I gave him back his bicycle! Guess he thought he had my mackinaw for keeps!” “That reminds me,” said Jerry. “I’ll have to write to that storekeeper down at Wallistown to send mine back. But you fellows will have to get Jake to tell the story. He’s the one that did everything, and got to Canoe Mountain. I got nabbed before we were half-way there.” “Yeah!” said Jake scornfully. “I wouldn’t have got very far if you hadn’t seen us in the gypsy flivver, and hadn’t thrown away the keys to the warden’s car. And it was your idea for us to go to Canoe Mountain in the first place.” “That wasn’t anything. But I call it real smart of you to figure out that Burk had stowed away those pearls in his mattress!” “Listen, Jerry Utway!” said Jake, and there was a glint in his bright blue eyes. “We found Burk together, and we never could have put it across if we hadn’t been working together all the time. Sherlock here helped a lot, too, although he didn’t know it. Now, for goodness sake, nail up that trap of yours until you can say something with some sense to it!” “I will not!” answered Jerry stoutly. “You’re a hero, that’s what you are—a bloomin’ hero!” “I’m not! Don’t call me names! Take that back!” “You are, too! I won’t take it back. You’re a bloomin’ hero!” Jake seized a heavy hot-water bottle that lay at the foot of Sherlock’s bed, and wielded it threateningly. The circle of boys widened about the two brothers, and laughing campers nudged each other and winked. For almost a week now, the Utway twins had been strangely peaceable. They had been driven by the mystery that had surrounded Camp Lenape to join forces and forget their brotherly strife in a common cause and in the face of a common danger. But now that they were back home again at Lenape, a friendly little battle might clear the air, make them feel themselves once more. “That’s the boy, Jake!” urged Chink Towner. “Give him the works!” “Key down, you Chinaman!” cried Jake. “I know what I’m doing.” Again he wielded the hot-water bottle menacingly, hefting it as if on the point of hurling it full at his brother. “Now, Jerry, you take that back!” “You’re a hero, a bloomin’ hero!” chanted Jerry, tauntingly. “And you’re another!” “And you’re his brother!” Sherlock Jones flashed a mock-terrified glance at the two embattled brothers. “Help!” he cried, and slid down into the bed, pulling the covers protectingly over his head. “The Utway twins are at it again!” THE END |
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