The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves Part 13

"Guess it's nothing serious, Garry," said Phil, who had followed Garry's lead and stopped swimming long enough to see what the cause of the call was. "It looks as though he had made a discovery of some sort."

The chums put on an extra burst of speed, and soon had reached the spot where d.i.c.k was standing.

"What's all the commotion about?" inquired Garry half breathlessly, as they clambered up on to the bank. "We thought you were calling for help."

"I am truly sorry I frightened you, but I just found something that we may need before our stay at the camp is done," and d.i.c.k led the way into the woods for a few feet. "I got out on the bank to rest a bit, and thought I saw signs of a camp having been here at one time or another, so I nosed around and tucked away in the brush I found this," and displacing some of the debris that had fallen around the object, d.i.c.k disclosed a birch-bark canoe, made after Indian fashion.

"I should say that was a find," exclaimed Garry. "Now we can do all the exploring around here that we want to, and if we find nothing here we can portage the canoe across the woods to Dutton Lake and continue our investigation."

They were disappointed, however, for on dragging out the canoe, they found that a great hole had been torn in the bottom.

"Now wouldn't that jar you. I wish I had looked at it more carefully before I called to you," said d.i.c.k in a disappointed tone.

"Let your Uncle Dudley take a look," ordered Garry. After a few moment's investigation, he straightened up. "It can be repaired easily with what simple tools we have and a little help from old Mother Nature. Our only trouble will be a swim of about four miles. Two across to the point that I noted when I looked through my gla.s.ses, and two back to where we want to do our work, which had better be here."

"I think I begin to see faint glimmerings of what you intend to do,"

said Phil, as he scanned the end of the lake that came within his vision. Phil had abnormally keen eyes, and could often see things that the other boys required a gla.s.s to discern.

"Well, Sherlock, what do I intend to do?" asked Garry with a laugh.

"It seems to me, if my eyes don't fail me, that I can see a sort of a white clump of woods about two miles distant, at least the sunshine casts a brighter glare than it does on the green of the pines and spruces. Now to me that spells b-i-r-c-h. Am I right?"

"Right again. That's just what I have in mind. Let's start. We ought to be able to have a fine canoe by noon if we don't loiter."

They swam back to where they had left their clothes, and it was decided that Phil should stay behind to guard their clothes, packs and rifles.

Garry got his hatchet and sheath off his belt, and tucked his knife safely into the sheath of the axe blade. Then by knotting two of the bandanna handkerchiefs that they customarily wore about their necks, he made a sort of a strap affair and tied the axe securely on his back between his shoulder blades. This left his arms perfectly free for swimming, and then he and d.i.c.k set out with easy strokes for their destination across the lake. They took plenty of time and occasionally rolled over to float on their backs so that they could rest. At last, after several resting spells, which were mainly for Garry's benefit, as d.i.c.k could have done the whole distance without fatiguing himself in the slightest, they reached the clump of birches.

Resting a few moments on the bank, they proceeded to strip a good section of bark from one of the birches. This was a simple matter, as all that was necessary to do was to cut a girdle around the tree a few inches from the bottom, and another about three feet above. Then a vertical cut was made between the two girdles, and after about twenty minutes of prying the bark from the trunk with the knife, the two taking turns at the task, they had the roll of bark neatly cut off.

"Now if we could only find a swampy place around here where there would be some tamarack trees, we could get a couple of the crooked roots for which the tamarack is noted, and that would furnish us with a rib for the canoe. As it is, we will have to makeshift with that twisted birch branch that I see, which Nature seemed to have put there for our particular use today," and Garry proceeded to get the branch as he spoke.

"We can roll this up and tie it with a strip of handkerchief, and push it along with us on the return swim. Then it will be a small job to repair the canoe."

"What are you going to use to attach it to the bottom of the canoe where it is broken," asked d.i.c.k.

"I have something in my knapsack. For some reason or other, while in Bangor, I bought a ball of extra fine linen cord, and one day while we were in the woods at Sourdehunq I needed some shoemaker's wax, and didn't have it, so last time we were in town I bought a piece. I never expected to use it to repair a boat with, however, just bought the stuff in case an occasion arose where we might need it. Now it will come in handy," and as he finished, Garry slipped back into the water. The return trip occupied somewhat longer, as the bark was a bit unwieldy as they pushed it ahead of them.

When they returned to the spot where they had left Phil, the sun was almost in the center of the sky, denoting it was near noon. They found that Phil had improved the time while they were absent and had started a fire and caught several good ba.s.s.

"Best fishing here I ever saw. I don't believe a line has been thrown in this patch of water for years, the fish just jump at the bait," shouted Phil with the true Isaac Walton enthusiasm.

"I also got a couple of pickerel that were so foolish as to leap at my bait, and have enough for dinner and some to take back to the camp with us tonight."

All were so eager to get at the business of fixing the boat, that they hurried through lunch with extra speed. Then they sped through the woods to the spot where the old canoe had been found.

As Garry prepared to repair the boat, he began to laugh at something that seemed to be amusing him greatly.

"Let us in on the joke," asked Phil. "You are grinning there to yourself like a Cheshire cat."

"I was just thinking that either Barrows is a fool or takes us for brainless idiots. The idea of telling us that there was nothing in the camp with which a boat could be calked, and there are only some hundreds of square miles in the state just full of the finest thing in the world.

Nothing more than the pitch on the pine trees all around us."

"I noticed it this morning when the manager remarked about it, but thought it just as well to keep my knowledge to myself," remarked d.i.c.k.

"All right, then, you fellows set to work with your knives and dig a lot of those pitch lumps off the trees and then start a fire and melt it in your drinking cup. It will spoil the cup, but we can easily get another one," directed Garry.

The boys immediately set about doing his bidding, and as they worked, Garry got out his knapsack and proceeded to rummage through it for the linen cord and the shoemaker's wax. Having found them, he set to work to wax the cord thoroughly, making it less likely to shrink. Next he examined the broken rib of the canoe, and determined how much of the birch branch he would need to repair it. He took his knife and shaved a long diagonal slant on the piece of rib in the canoe, then matched the slant on the piece of branch. Having fixed them so they would fit, he took a piece of fishing line and wound it carefully around the joint, starting several inches above where the two pieces joined, and continuing for several inches onto the firm wood beyond the spot where the repair was made. This is called "splicing." Most boys have spliced a fishing pole or a broken bat in much the same way.

The rib having been spliced, the next step was the patching of the hole.

Garry got the birch bark, and laid it over the gaping rent in the bottom of the craft, and marked a line around so that it overlapped the hole by about four inches. The extra bark was then trimmed away, and he was ready to sew it on. He took the awl blade of his knife and punched a series of holes around, piercing both the patch and the bark of the canoe. Having done this, he called for the hot pitch and poured it on around the edge of the hole. Then he firmly laid the patch on, and as the pitch cooled it formed a sort of a natural mucilage. Garry had previously waxed one end of the cord so that it would be easy to stick it through the holes, and working swiftly he threaded the cord in. When the job was completed, he reversed his steps, so that the result was a firmly sewn patch.

Nothing else remained to do but to daub hot pitch liberally over the seam on both sides, and calk the edges where the patch was attached to the craft.

"There," said Garry, as he stepped back and proudly surveyed his handiwork. "That's a craft that will be as seaworthy, or rather as lakeworthy, if there is such a word, as one could want."

"Um, let me see," mused d.i.c.k aloud, as he looked over the canoe.

"There's one other quite necessary thing to be done."

"Well, smarty, what is there to be done," asked Garry a trifle hotly.

"I was just wondering whether we would rig up a sail or have you a gas engine in your knapsack with which to make this gallant ship navigate?"

asked d.i.c.k as he burst into laughter, in which he was joined, first by Phil, and a bit later by Garry, when he saw that the joke was on him.

"Phil, you're the handy man with the knife, what say to a couple of paddles?" asked Garry after the laughter had subsided.

"Have 'em for you in an hour. That's quick work, however, and I won't promise you a very handsome product."

"We won't bother about looks as long as they will propel the canoe through the water. That remark of d.i.c.k's about the sail, although it was intended to be humorous, isn't such a bad idea either, only there is no way that I can think of right now to make a sail. We'll browse around the camp when we get back and see if we can dig up a bit of canvas and make one of those lateen sails, you know those triangular shaped affairs such as the boats in the Mediterranean use," said Garry.

While he was talking, Phil had already set to work to make a pair of paddles. "Now you chaps watch me, and after I have fixed one with the axe, or as much as one can do with an axe blade, I'll get to work with the knife," he said.

Phil selected spruce about five inches in diameter and felled it to the ground.

"I hate to spoil a perfectly good tree, but in this case certainly necessity knows no law."

He chopped off two sections a little over five feet in length, and then proceeded to hew one swiftly into a board. This took some little time, despite the fact that he worked at top speed every moment. His last work with the axe was to fashion very crudely the handle.

"Now I am going to whittle just the top and a place where the hand will come in contact with the neck or shaft of the paddle. To try and smooth it up would take too long, and all that really needs to be smooth are the places where we will have to hold it. If it was left rough we would soon acc.u.mulate a crop of blisters. While I am whittling, you chaps can fashion that other section into form as I did."

After he had whittled enough, Phil sprang to his feet and said, "If I am not mistaken, I saw an old bottle near the remains of a campfire, and that will be just what I want." He sped away to where he had seen the vestiges of some fisherman's fire, and soon found what he required. He smashed this against a stone, and with the fragments sc.r.a.ped the spots he had whittled smooth and free from lumps.

The second paddle was not long in the making, but the entire job had taken well over three hours. "We have about three hours before it is time to eat, and we might as well put our canoe to the test, and see if it works," announced d.i.c.k.

"Time to eat! Don't you ever think of anything but eating?" demanded Garry.

"Yes, sir; when I'm not thinking about time to eat, I'm thinking about what to eat," responded d.i.c.k promptly.

"Say, Phil, he's hopeless. What say we make for that outlet at the far end of the lake. We might just as well do that as anything, since we have no real plan of action. Then tomorrow we can make a complete tour of the lake, and thus get a comprehensive idea of the whole body of water."