Camp Venture: A Story of the Virginia Mountains

Thus with glad thoughts of a speedy homing, the boys rolled themselves in their blankets and stretched themselves out to sleep by the fire and under the stars.

"By the way, Tom," said Jim, just as Tom was sinking into slumber, "you forgot to look for that hole in the sky that you made last night."

"Well, you'd better make a hole in your talk pretty quick, Jim, if you don't want a bucket of water poured over you," said Jack. "Lie awake as long as you like, but keep quiet and let the rest of us sleep."

CHAPTER XXXVI

A Start Down the Mountain

Just a week later the boys were ready to quit Camp Venture and proceed down the mountain, or as Tom, quoting the mountaineers, put it, they prepared to "git down out'n the mountings."

They had fully accomplished their mission. They had done a great winter's work. They had sent down the mountain every tie they were permitted by their contract to furnish; they had sent down many noble bridge timbers and greatly more cordwood than they had expected to cut. Their work was done, except that before going home they must go to the headquarters of the railroad contractors, at the foot of the mountain, adjust their accounts and collect the money due them.

As the best mountain climber among them, the one who had met and overcome more mountain difficulties in his time than any other, and the one who best knew how to "look straight at things and use common sense," Tom was chosen to direct the perilous descent over the cliffs.

The boys were all heavily loaded, of course. Each had his axe, his blanket, his extra clothing and four days' rations to carry. Each also had his gun and there was one extra gun – the rifle that Tom had captured from the mountaineer – to be carried. "For," said Tom, "while we have no use for the gun, I've agreed to deliver it to its owner whenever he chooses to call for it at my mother's house, and I tell you, boys, a man's first obligation in this world is to keep every promise that he makes no matter what it costs. I'd take that fellow's rifle down the mountain if I had to leave my own behind in order to do it."

"You are right, Tom," said the Doctor, "and boys, I propose that we take charge of that gun and carry it turn and turn about for Tom, for he is otherwise the worst over-loaded fellow in the party."

For Tom had his skins to carry – the panther's hide, three big bear skins, several deer hides, and a large number of pelts from raccoons, opossums, hares, squirrels and other small game.

"In fact," said the Doctor, "I move that we throw Tom down, take away his load, and divide it equally among the entire party."

"That's it. That's the way to manage it!" cried the boys in chorus. But Tom would hear of nothing of the kind. "You fellows may help me with the mountaineer's rifle, if you choose, but I'll manage my bundle of skins for myself. Thank you, all the same. After all, our luggage isn't going to bother us half so much, going down the mountain this way as it would if we went down by the regular trail."

"Why not, Tom?" asked Jack.

"Well, I'll show you after awhile," said Tom. "And in the meantime, Doctor, I'm going to take all your delicate and expensive scientific instruments, and myself pack them so that they will endure the journey without injury. If carried as you have them, there wouldn't be one of them that wouldn't lie like a moonshiner by the time we 'git out'n the mountings.' Let me have them, please."

The Doctor, curious to see what the boy was going to do, turned his instruments over to him and carefully observed his proceedings. Tom began by selecting a number of the smaller skins, which, instead of drying, he had "tanned" with brains, corn meal-rubbing and other devices known to him as a hunter. These were as limp and soft as so many pieces of muslin, but greatly tougher. With them Tom carefully wrapped each instrument separately, securely tying up each with string, which the boy seemed always to have hidden somewhere about his person in unlimited quantity and variety of sizes and kinds.

"That's a trick I learned in hunting," he said, when questioned. "You can never have too much string with you."

Next he packed these bundles together, interposing dried and stiff hides between the several parcels, and again securely tied them together. Then he took the hide of his "Ursa Major," which was still "green" and limp, and which, as the boys suggested, "smelt uncommonly bad," and rolled the whole bundle in that, "skinny side out," binding it securely with stout twine. Finally he wrapped the stiff dried hide of the first bear he had killed, and the equally stiff panther's hide over all, as a sort of "goods box," he said, and, with a piece of red keel, he playfully marked on the panther's skin, "Glass! Handle with care."

"But now who is going to carry all this load?" asked Jack.

"Tom and I," said the Doctor, quickly. "The skins are Tom's and the instruments are mine. So we'll take some more of Tom's string and rig up some handles by which he and I can carry the bundle."

"You see," said Tom, "we may possibly have to drop it over a cliff now and then, and I've tried to do it up so as to stand that without breaking the instruments. But I think we can manage to avoid that. At any rate, we'll try. Now, come on, boys."

They had already taken leave of the lieutenant, and with four days' rations in their haversacks – for the lieutenant had supplied them with those military conveniences – haversacks – they began the descent of the mountain by that difficult way that Tom had followed on the night when he inspected the stills.

It was nine o'clock when they started. They made their way with comparative ease for nearly an hour. Then they came upon a bluff of formidable proportions and difficulty. Here Tom's experience and generalship came into play for the first time.

"All lay off your loads," he said. "Now, Harry, you are a discreet fellow and a good climber. Strip yourself of everything that can possibly embarrass you, and go down over the bluff. Remember what I have told you about bushes. Some of them cling tenaciously, while some of them give way in their roots at the first serious pull. Never trust one of them, but hold on by two always, and support yourself by your feet on every projection of rock you can find, so as not to overtax the bushes. When you are holding by two bushes, never let go of one to catch another lower down till you have satisfied yourself of the security of the other one by which you are holding on, and then grab the new one as quickly as you can. Make your way to the foot of the cliff, and we'll then let all our baggage and arms down to you with twine. You are to receive it all, untie the twine and let us pull it up again for the next bundle. When all our luggage is down, we'll climb down ourselves. There isn't any serious difficulty about it if we're careful. As I told you boys awhile ago, there isn't any such thing as accident. It is all a question of carefulness."

Harry did his part well in making the descent of this first precipice and the work of lowering the arms and luggage, including every boy's haversack – for it was imperative that in the bush climb down the cliff, no boy should carry a single ounce of unnecessary weight – occupied full two hours' time.

The Doctor was the last to go over the edge of the precipice, and he alone met with mishap. Jack, with his heavy weight, had preceded him, and the bushes, already weakened by the strain the other boys had given them, were some of them almost torn out by the roots from the rock crevices in which they grew. So when the Doctor was about half way down, one of them gave way suddenly, leaving the Doctor's right hand with no support and swinging him around in very perilous fashion. But the Doctor had by this time become a good deal of an athlete, and instantly realizing his danger, he swung himself around on his toes, which rested in a crevice of the cliff, and grasped with his right hand a sharp edge of rock which protruded some inches from the face of the cliff. It was a perilous hold, as the boys, looking on from below, clearly saw, and one that obviously could not be long maintained. But the Doctor had his wits about him, and after a moment's pause, he grasped another bush which held securely, and five minutes later he was on the ledge below.

Here it was decided to halt for the midday meal. A fire was built; the game which had been brought – or at least so much of it as was needed for this meal – was broiled upon live coals, and a pot of coffee was made – for of that sustaining article the original supply had not yet been quite exhausted.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Down the Mountain

By this time the boys were excessively tired. Climbing down over bluffs is weary work. So after dinner they stretched themselves out for a nap with their bundles under their heads in lieu of pillows.

An hour later they roused themselves and set out again upon their toilsome journey, carrying their packs as best they could, and scrambling through underbrush and over fragments of rock that had fallen from the cliffs and hills above and now seriously obstructed the passage.

At last they came to the shelving rock, mentioned in a preceding chapter. This was a perfectly bare stretch of rock, extending down the hill for nearly a quarter of a mile, at an angle which made walking upon it impracticable.

"Now, fellows," said Tom, "get your parcels together and slide them down the hill. The thick woods and bush tangle at the bottom of this rocky incline will bring them to a halt. Then I'll go down alone and find out if the way is practicable. If I get down in safety the rest of you can follow, doing precisely as you've seen me do."

"But, Tom, I protest," said the Doctor. "You mustn't take all the risk."

"Oh, you'll have risk enough for your own share," answered Tom, "after I've done the trick. It's only that I've done this sort of thing before, and can show you fellows how. In the meantime, send the parcels down."

Then one after another, the shoulder packs were started and went speedily down the rocky incline and into the woodlands at its foot. The guns, of course, were not risked in this fashion, but were securely strapped upon the shoulders of those who were to carry them.

When all the luggage had been sent down, Tom began his descent, calling to the others:

"Now watch me carefully, boys, and see just how I do it."

He went down, face to the ground, and feet first, sliding, with legs and arms spread out, to offer all possible resistance to gravity, and with his toes clinging close to the rock to catch every little inequality and thus check his speed. Now and then he would encounter an obstruction that brought him to a full stop. When that happened, he rested awhile, and then resumed his slide. It was hard work, accompanied by no little peril, and the boys did not breathe freely till Tom reached the bottom, stood up and waved his hat in token of his victory over the difficulty.

Then one by one – for Tom had forbidden any two of them to start down at the same time – they all made the descent in the same way, "without giving the Doctor a single job to do," said Tom, when all was over. But their clothing was very badly damaged in the descent, and the hands and knees of some of them were considerably torn.

They were now in a very thick woodland, crowning a gently declining hillside, and, after gathering their properties together, they marched forward for an hour, descended another bluff, and decided to encamp there for the night. The distance to the foot of the mountain was now comparatively small, but the surface was badly broken and precipitous, and as darkness was not far off, it was deemed better to wait until morning before completing the journey.

On the way through the woodlands, the Doctor had surprised and shot a turkey, and it must of course be roasted, so the first thing to do was to cut some wood and build a fire. For that a spot was selected just under a slate rock bank that formed a cliff near where they had decided to camp. The water which oozed out at the bottom of this slate rock bank on its western border, and formed a convenient pool there, did not prove to be good. It tasted of various minerals, iron and sulphur among them, and was distinctly unpalatable. Fortunately, Jim discovered a spring at a little distance, however, which was found to be good. Springs were everywhere on this steep face of the mountain, bearing to the surface the water from the snows that fell in the higher lands above, sank into the ground, and percolating through rock fissures, found its way to daylight again wherever a crack or seam in the rock permitted.

So the coffee pot was soon ready for the fire where the turkey was already roasting, and by the time that night fell, the supper of roast turkey, hot biscuit and steaming coffee, was ready, and the weary boys were looking rather eagerly forward to the time when the meal should be so far past as to permit them to lie down again to sleep.

As they ate they chatted, of course. The home-going had begun, and indeed its most serious difficulties had already been overcome. Their enthusiasm was again aroused and they again felt interest in whatever subject might come up for discussion. But first of all, they made Jack figure up their winter's earnings – exclusive, of course, of Tom's skins – and they were very well satisfied indeed with the results of his figuring. Their outfit in the autumn had cost them very little, and since then they had been at no expense whatever except that they owed the Doctor their several small shares of the money he had given to Bill Jones and of the two dollars he had advanced to Tom for the purchase of meal on the mountain; for, of course, they all insisted upon sharing that expense, and Tom had no reasonable ground for refusing.

An hour after supper all lay down to sleep, after replenishing the fire under the slate rock bank, for there was no danger from moonshiners down here so near the foot of the mountain.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

Old King Coal

It was nearly morning when the boys, wrapped in their blankets, began to stir uneasily and kick at their coverings. Every one of them was oppressed with heat, but for a time, weary as they were, they did not fully come to a consciousness of what it was that disturbed them.

After awhile Jim sat up, stripping off his blanket and giving vent to his feeling in the half word, half whistle, "Whew!" He looked about him for an instant, and then hastily jumping up, called to his half-awake companions:

"I say, fellows, wake up, quick. The slate rock bank is afire!"