Canoe Boys and Campfires | Page 4

cruise of not less than one hundred and fifty miles. The
creek is navigable all the way from Oakville, and there are not more
than twelve or fifteen dams in the whole distance.
"The water is deep, and the current is swift in some places, sluggish in
others. The channel winds through heavy timber lands and between
high, rocky cliffs. The mountains are not far away. The fishing is
splendid, and woodcock and snipe are plentiful."
Here Ned laid down the bundle of notes from which he had been
reading.
"It will be a delightful trip," he added eagerly. "The Susquehanna can't
compare with it. Instead of having to paddle our twenty or thirty miles
a day in the broiling sun, and camp on gravel bars or grass flats, we can
drift leisurely in the cool shade of the overhanging trees, stop when we
please and as long as we please, and take our pick of a hundred
beautiful camping places. In fact it will be a camping trip and canoe
trip combined.
"And what's more we will be the first to navigate the creek. No canoe,
or boat either, has ever made the winding journey from the head waters
to the mouth. It is unexplored territory, except to the farmers and a few
stray fishermen. You can take your choice now. Which is it to be? The
Susquehanna or the Conodoguinet?"

Ned put the papers in his pocket and sat down.
"I say the creek, by all means, boys," exclaimed Randy.
"Same here!" echoed Clay.
"Aw, yes! that must be a beautiful stream, don't you know," drawled
Nugget, in such a serio-comic tone that his companions burst out
laughing.
When quiet was restored the map became the center of attraction, and
Ned gladly pointed out places of interest and volunteered all sorts of
information. As the hours went by the boys waxed enthusiastic over the
proposed cruise. The details were mostly planned out, and then a long
discussion ensued over the choice of a name for the club.
Many titles were suggested and rejected, but finally Ned struck a happy
combination, and the organization was unanimously christened the
"Jolly Rovers."
At ten o'clock the boat house was locked up, and the boys climbed the
bank, and went down through the city to their respective homes.
Now that the cruise was a settled fact the Jolly Rovers threw all their
energies into needed preparations. In the evening, and between school
hours they were always to be found at Randy's boat house.
Ned looked forward to the trip with the keen delight of one who had
already tasted the joys of canoeing. Clay and Randy--who had not been
permitted to accompany Ned down the Susquehanna the previous
summer--had bright anticipations to be realized, while Nugget was just
as eager as his companions. It had required much persuasion and many
promises on Nugget's part to win the desired permission, and when the
question was finally decided the new member of the Jolly Rovers was
put on a severe course of training.
This embraced rowing, paddling a canoe, and swimming, and before
the month of June was over Nugget was fairly proficient in all three. He

purchased a second hand canoe which Ned picked out for him, and
without the knowledge of his companions he wrote to his father in New
York for a canoeing outfit.
The box duly arrived and was opened one evening in the boathouse.
The boys feasted their eyes on the array of treasures--fishing rods of
spliced bamboo, a portable set of camp dishes that fitted into each other,
a pair of brass lanterns, rubber blankets, and several other articles that
were of no practical use on a canoe trip.
In the bottom of the box were four shirts of the softest flannel, two
pairs of long black woolen stockings, and a canoeing suit of stout
brown cloth--knickerbockers, blouse, and a yachting cap.
It was a fine outfit, and the boys good naturedly envied Nugget his
luck.
The date of departure was fixed for the first week in July. When the
academy closed on the 25th of June little or nothing remained to be
done in the way of preparation--thanks to Ned's good generalship.
The four canoes lay in the lower section of the boathouse, radiant in
new coats of paint. In the big closet on the upper floor were packed the
varied assortment of dishware, lanterns, axes, bottles of oil, cement,
cans of white lead, strips of oiled canvas, rolls of blankets, a new A tent,
jointed poles for the same, and a bundle of iron stakes.
Such provision as could be taken along--oatmeal, rice, sugar, coffee
and flour--had been ordered from a grocer, to be packed in waterproof
jars.
Ned Chapman had been very properly chosen commodore of the