Dave Porter At Bear Camp: or, The Wild Man of Mirror Lake

"First call for lunch!" sang out Dave, loudly, when all was in readiness.

"I guess your first call will be the last, too, Dave!" exclaimed Jessie. "Here! what will you have – a ham sandwich or one with chicken?"

"I think I'll try the chicken," he answered.

"Oh, don't be backward about coming forward, Dave!" cried Luke. "Why don't you try them both?"

"I will before I get through."

"We all will," declared Roger. "There is nothing the matter with this air for giving one an appetite," he added. "I believe after we have been up at Bear Camp for a while we'll all be eating like wolves."

"Why not like bears, if we are going to Bear Camp?" suggested Phil.

"Say, I can't bear a joke like that!" broke in Roger.

"It was a little barefaced; wasn't it?" commented Dave.

"Oh, quit your joking, I'm hungry," pleaded Luke. And then all the young folks fell to eating with great gusto, and it must be admitted that the older heads followed suit.

The lunch lasted the best part of half an hour, and was thoroughly enjoyed by every one. Then the young people got out their cameras, and various snap-shots and time-pictures were taken, to be developed and printed later on.

"Now then, let us pack up as quickly as we can, and finish this trip," said Mr. Basswood, presently.

As he spoke he looked up at the sky, and the others did the same. Off to the westward they saw a number of black clouds rolling up rapidly.

"Say, Dave, that looks like a real storm to me," remarked Roger, anxiously. "What do you think of it?"

"It's a storm, all right," was the answer. "And if we don't catch it before we reach the end of our journey we'll be lucky."

As quickly as possible, the various things were packed up and placed in the two touring-cars. Then they started off once more, with Mr. Porter and Mr. Basswood at the steering wheels. They had covered less than five miles when they heard a rushing of wind through the woods. It seemed to come by fits and starts, but steadily increased in volume. The sky grew darker, and soon some large drops of rain fell.

"We'll have to put up the tops!" cried Dave.

The Basswood car had already come to a stop and those in it were hurrying to put up the top. As Dave unfastened the straps on the Wadsworth automobile, the drops of rain came down faster than ever.

"We didn't get that up any too soon," remarked the boy's uncle, when the job was finished.

"Hadn't I better put up the side curtains, too?" queried Dave.

"You'll have to put up everything you've got, Dave!" cried Roger. "Just look at what's coming!"

There was no need to look, for already the rain was driving in on them. Working with all possible speed, the boys soon adjusted the curtains.

"Uncle Dunston, we can't run without chains if the road gets wet," cried Dave.

"I am going to run under yonder trees. We can put the chains on there," answered Dunston Porter, and they started forward once again, with the rain pelting down upon them furiously.

CHAPTER XI

FROM ONE HARDSHIP TO ANOTHER

"I guess I was right about the rain," remarked Phil, grimly, as the drops pattered unceasingly on the cover of the automobile.

"You sure were, Phil!" cried Belle. "It's coming down just as hard as ever it can."

"If only the wind would stop blowing!" said Jessie. "Do you think there is any danger of our being blown over?"

"Oh, it isn't as bad as all that," answered Dave.

A few minutes later Mr. Porter espied a suitable place under several large trees, and here he brought the touring-car to a standstill. Then the Basswood car come close alongside.

"Going to put on the chains?" called out Mr. Basswood, to make himself heard above the noise of the elements.

"I think we had better," returned Dave's uncle. "I imagine we've quite a hill to descend a little farther on."

There were raincoats in each touring-car, and these were now donned by Dave and his uncle, and by Ben and his father. Then the chains for the back wheels for both automobiles were brought forth.

Even under the thick foliage of the trees the rain was coming down, although of course not nearly as hard as on the roadway beyond. The chains were straightened out on the grass, and each automobile was backed up a little so that the articles might be fastened on. The task took but a few minutes, and then those who had accomplished it got back into the machines.

"I'll lead the way," called out Mr. Porter. "You had better not follow me too closely."

"Very well, I'll watch out," answered Mr. Basswood.

"Uncle Dunston, don't you want to let me drive?" queried Dave. "I've had a little more experience at it than you have had."

"I can do it, Dave," was the reply. "But, at the same time, if you think it would be safer, take the wheel. I must own up that I'd rather be on a horse or behind one than steering a car like this in such a storm."

Dave squeezed himself into the driver's seat, and a moment later they were off again over the plateau of the hill, and then down the other side.

The wind was blowing as furiously as ever, and now from a distance came the low rumble of thunder.

"O dear! What is that?" cried Laura.

"I guess it was thunder, but I don't think it will amount to anything," returned Roger.

The bottom of the hill gained, they traversed a narrow valley for a distance of seven or eight miles. Then came another climb over a winding highway, which at certain points was filled with loose stones and dirt.

"Be careful, Dave. We don't want to do any skidding," cautioned the youth's uncle.

"I'm watching out all I can," was the grim reply. Dave was bending over the steering-wheel, trying his best to see through the windshield. "I guess I'll have to open it a little," he went on, nodding in the direction of the glass.

"I'll do it for you," answered Dunston Porter, and threw out the upper side of the shield.

By this means Dave was able to get a clear vision of the roadway directly in front of the machine. But the opening of the windshield let in considerable of the driving rain.

"Oh, Dave, you'll get wet from the knees down!" cried Jessie, solicitously.

"Can't help it," he replied. "I can't see with the windshield closed."