  “Here’s where we’ll have to leave the wheels, fellows, and climb the rest of the way,” said Hugh, at about two o’clock that same afternoon. The four members of the Wolf patrol had concluded that they could save themselves considerable time by making use of their bicycles; it had been Bud’s suggestion, and being duly O.K.’d by the leader, the order went forth to come to the place of meeting prepared for a run along the good road that would take them pretty nearly three-fourths of the way to where they had planned to go. So, dismounting, they looked for a convenient hiding-place, where the wheels might be considered safe until they came that way again, homeward bound. Arthur carried his dearly loved camera, with which he had become very expert of late; and, as has been said before, the really fine pictures he was turning out proved that he had a natural bent in that direction worth cultivating. He was forever trying new experiments, and, with the assistance of Hugh, had already managed to obtain quite a few clever photographs of wild animals, such as could be found in that neighborhood. Indeed, they had several times arranged a sort of trap, so that a mink or muskrat in starting to carry off the bait, actually took its own picture by setting off a flashlight cartridge. As the four boys started up the steep road, talking vigorously about the happenings of the previous day, it was noticed that Hugh was carrying a coil of rope over his shoulder. He had brought it along fastened to the handle-bars of his wheel, and, remembering what he had said about practicing cliff-climbing, Billy and Bud could readily guess what this might be for. As for Arthur, he seemed so engrossed with what he expected to do in taking a number of views calculated to back up their story about the storm, that he paid no attention to anything else. That was the trouble with Arthur; once he got interested in any particular line of work, he threw his whole energies into it, perhaps to the neglect of other equally important matters. They were soon climbing the trail that led to the scene of their previous adventure. Billy seemed unusually wideawake on this afternoon, and full of animation. His eyes were on the alert all the time, and if there was a squirrel that leaped from one tree to another in making for its hole, a rabbit that suddenly flashed out of sight among the bushes, or a red-headed woodpecker hammering at some rotten treetop, Billy was the one to discover it first of all. Several times Arthur manifested a disposition to stop and take pictures. There were trees that had been blown down which seemed to offer an inviting field, and might have made good views; but Hugh advised that he “hold his horses” awhile. “You can take plenty of pictures of fallen trees whenever you feel like it,” the patrol leader told the artist; “and just now you ought to make every film count for the Wolf patrol. Perhaps you may want to snap off several shots at the wreck of the big hollow oak; and then there are the rocks that made us such a fine shelter. They ought to show up just right in this afternoon sun, for they face the west.” “I do believe you even thought of that when you agreed to the time for this hike, Hugh,” Arthur returned thoughtfully. “It seems to me you just look away ahead pretty much all the time, and figure things out long before they happen.” “Oh! hardly all that,” laughed Hugh; “and in this case you’re away off, because it never occurred to me until I spoke. But besides those pictures, there may be some other things turn up before we get back that will be worth while snapping. I’ve got a few stunts figured out, you know, that will give you a chance to do some quick work, if you want to finish out a film.” “We must be getting close to where that old tree went to smash when the lightning struck it, Hugh,” remarked Bud. “There she is, right ahead there!” cried Billy, before the leader could answer. “And say, boys, let me tell you the wreck looks just as fierce as it did yesterday. I’ve been wondering whether we mightn’t have magnified things a little, seeing we were so worked up over the escape; but just look at the way the limbs are scattered around! It’s going to be a hard thing for you to get a proper focus on all that stuff, Art, and us grouped in the bargain.” But the experienced photographer had already cast a quick look around, and seemed fully confident that he could manage nicely. “Plenty of sunlight at this early hour,” he remarked first of all; “but by three o’clock the shadows of those other trees would have bothered me. And now, you fellows stand just by that little open place, where you won’t be in the line of the riven stump. The hole must show that I wanted you to crawl into before the storm broke. After I get you well focussed, I expect to join you. I’ve got an extra long rubber tube, you notice, connected with my rapid drop-shutter; so when we’re all fixed, I’ll press the bulb, and the thing’s done.” He was very particular how he placed them all, and after he had viewed the scene from under his light-proof cloth, he came back several times to make alterations. Finally, even the particular artist seemed to be satisfied. “Nobody move a hand or foot, or more than breathe, till I come back and join you,” he told them, as he hurried to his camera which he had mounted on its tripod. “That’s going to be a Jim Dandy view, I’m giving it to you straight, fellows; and above all, the hole shows up fine. You see, that’s what will gain us points in this game, if anything will, and the committee must be able to tell that the oak tree struck by lightning was hollow, so that they can know how close a call we had. Steady there, Billy Worth; don’t act so frisky. We don’t want to spoil this picture, let me tell you; and I’m going to take a second snap, to make doubly sure of it.” When the official photographer of the Wolf patrol had rejoined his three waiting chums, he stooped to secure possession of the bulb that completed the long thin line of rubber tubing. “Now, look natural, everybody!” he remarked. “I’m going to press her. All ready? Here she goes! There, that counts for one snapshot! Now wait here where you are till I turn another exposure, and we’ll make a second picture.” This was soon accomplished, and Arthur declared that he would have excellent results to show for all their work. “You’ve got to print a copy for each one of us, too,” remarked Billy seriously. “I’m going to have an enlargement made, which I can frame and hang over the desk in my den at home. Every time I look up at it I’ll remember what it means, and feel thankful that I joined the scouts and that Hugh was along with us! It gives me a cold shiver to think what might have happened if the other three of us had been by ourselves. Neither Bud nor myself would have known enough to put up any objection when you made your bid for shelter, Arthur.” “Oh! forget that, can’t you?” pleaded Bud. “Let’s move on, fellows, and find something more cheerful to look at than heaps of kindling wood, great splinters, and broken branches every-which-way.” “Do we start for the bully rocks now, Hugh?” asked Billy, when the artist had gathered his traps together and seemed ready to continue the tramp. “That’s the next thing on the program; and after we’ve taken what views we want there, why, I’ll show you what I want to try out. It struck me yesterday as we were looking for new nut trees up here, and I saw how fine the cliffs stood up in several places.” “P’r’aps, Hugh,” chuckled Billy, “you might be aiming to give the Excelsior fire-fighters a few object lessons on how to save people from ten-story tenement buildings; but as we haven’t anything taller than three stories in our town, I don’t see just how they’ll profit by it.” “Of course I wasn’t thinking of the fire company when I laid out these plans,” the patrol leader said; “but this rope-climbing business is like a good many other things scouts learn: they don’t ever expect to have to depend on such a thing to save either their own life, or that of another person; but if the time ever does come, it’s handy to know how.” “You’re right there, Hugh,” admitted Billy; “it’s just like a man insuring his house against fire. I don’t reckon anybody ever believes his house is going to burn down; but he only wants to have his mind easy.” “Well, lots of the stunts scouts learn are just so much insurance, as you might say,” Hugh declared. “And the more a boy stocks up with this stuff, the better he’s equipped for life. That’s where it counts big, I’m telling you.” “And there is where we tucked ourselves away from the cloud-burst!” announced Billy, being the first to glimpse the queer rocky formations in the shape of shelves, that jutted out for six feet or so from the face of the hill. Again Arthur “got busy” and made his arrangements. Hugh seldom offered any suggestion, for he saw that the other was better qualified to manage this thing than any of the rest. Once more they posed while the proper focus was being secured; and then Arthur injected himself into the group, gave the customary warning, and finally pressed the magic bulb that completed the circuit. Since so much depended on getting a sure-shot of the queer shelter which Hugh had discovered, Arthur repeated the attempt once more; in case one exposure should have some mishap come to it, he could turn to the other. He had learned that in all important cases, where extra value is placed on a picture, it is a good thing to make doubly sure; because it is often utterly impossible to secure the same conditions twice, and a valuable opportunity may be lost. After this, Hugh assumed charge of things. He was really anxious to try out several ideas of his own connected with cliff climbing, which had been one of the features of past contests in which the scouts had indulged to a limited degree. Now he believed he had hit on a series of experiments that would not only prove fascinating sport, but give them all considerable training in rope-climbing, as well as a knowledge of how Alpine guides manage to keep from falling when mounting dizzy heights. Twenty minutes after taking the last picture, the four scouts were climbing the rugged mountainside. Far above them they could see the bare ridges of a higher peak, where many of their earlier outings had been conducted in the days when the troop was still young. They were chattering like a flock of magpies, when Billy suddenly gave a cry of excitement. As before, those quick eyes of his had been roving to the right, to the left and straight ahead, always discovering new things. “Oh! what in Sam Hill is that thing over yonder coming straight this way?” he yelled, clutching Hugh by the arm. “If I’d been reading ‘Baron Munchausen’ or ‘Sinbad the Sailor,’ I’d think it was a giant roc flying toward us; but it seems more like a battered old balloon dropping down to the ground.” “It is a balloon,” said Hugh, after looking intently; “and I believe I can see a man in the swinging basket, waving his arms to us, as though he might have lost all control and wanted us to help save him!” The other scouts were of the same mind when they had looked closer. It gave them a thrill to realize that all of a sudden, out of the clear sky, an opportunity had arisen whereby they might be of use to one in great peril. |
|
