<h2><SPAN name="iii" id="iii"></SPAN>CHAPTER THREE<br/> <small>FOGGY DAYS AND WOODCRAFT WAYS</small></h2>
<p class="noi"><span class="dropcap"><span class="dropcap2">“</span>L</span>ET’S get at that trawl as soon as we can,” announced
Fred, as he entered the bungalow at
breakfast time in the morning. “Captain says we may
have a spell of foggy weather.”</p>
<p>“Why, it’s clear enough now,” said Dudley, in surprise.</p>
<p>“But look down the bay, that is not a cloud bank
that you see off Rockland, that’s fog,” said Mr. Remington.
“And if that southerly breeze continues we’ll
get it thick.”</p>
<p>“But it is calm up here, so how do you know there’s
a breeze down there and how do you know it’s a
southerly?” questioned Dudley, who really was anxious
to learn the “salt-water” wrinkles he perceived were of
the utmost value in Island life.</p>
<p>“Don’t you see that schooner way down there?
Look, how she is getting the wind,” was the enlightening
reply from Fred.</p>
<p>“See, Dudley, the northerly wind that was blowing
when we got up this morning, has all died out,” said
Mrs. Remington. “And don’t you feel a curious chill
in the air although the sun is still bright?”</p>
<div class="figcenter width600">
<SPAN name="String" id="String"></SPAN>
<ANTIMG src="images/i-050a.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="363" alt="" />
<div class="caption">A STRING OF CUNNERS CAUGHT BY SHELBY.</div>
<SPAN name="All" id="All"></SPAN>
<ANTIMG src="images/i-050b.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="398" alt="" />
<div class="caption">“AND ALL ALONG THE OLD JIB BOOM.”<br/>
<em>Woodcraft Boys at Sunset <span class="wordspacing">Island. Page</span></em>
<SPAN href="#Page_52">52</SPAN></div>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</SPAN></span>
So, the breakfast was hurried through and the Captain’s
launch towed the big rowboat out to the trawl.
On the way, they met Captain Benton from Isola
Bella with three of the maids and the two little girls.
Soon, that rowboat was added to the tow.</p>
<p>“We came over to see if you were going to look
at the trawl,” announced Miriam. “Katy and Tillie
want to see the fun so we made Jenny come too,
though she hates a boat and told us she just knew she’d
get seasick.”</p>
<p>“Where’s Bridget?” called Billy, who was very
friendly with the fat Irish cook.</p>
<p>“Bridget said that a sight of all those queer fish
would turn her stomach—she said to me, ‘Ye see, me
dear, I hev a rale wakeness in me stomack whin I see
sich ungodly craythers.’” Miriam giggled as she
mimicked Bridget.</p>
<p>But it was just as well that Bridget had not joined
the party that day for the trawl outdid itself in the
revelations of the vasty deep.</p>
<p>An immense barndoor skate was followed by a
sea-toad, or puffer, which continued to swell like a
balloon the longer it was out of water. Then came
some haddocks and dog-fish; suddenly, Fred exclaimed
at the weight of the line and there arose to view a
large ungainly monk-fish, or angler.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</SPAN></span>
“Oh, Captain! don’t throw him overboard until I
get a photo of him,” cried Paul.</p>
<p>So intense was the interest and the fun that only
the Captain and Mr. Remington noticed the fog that
had crept stealthily up until the whole bay south of
Flat Island was a blank wall of impenetrable mist.</p>
<p>“Come, come—we must get back now!” And Mr.
Remington soon had his convoy arranged and the
launch chugged away for Isola Bella wharf where it
left Benton and his party the richer by several fine
haddocks.</p>
<p>The Sunset Islanders reached the float-stage just
before the fog shut them in.</p>
<p>“Make up a good fire in the bungalow,” said Mrs.
Remington to Billy and Dudley. “And every one see
that the tent-flaps are close shut to keep out as much
of this dampness as possible.”</p>
<p>The novelty of the fog was at first delightful to the
younger boys but when they realised that they were
forbidden to even get into a boat while the treacherous
white veil covered the island, they revised their judgment.</p>
<p>Elizabeth was a little aggrieved, too. “Just think,
Uncle Tom and Aunt Edith will arrive in the morning
and I wanted to go over to Rosemary to meet them.
Now, this old fog will probably last two or three
days.”</p>
<p>And so it proved. On account of this white barrier
the Captain alone took Mr. Remington to Rosemary,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</SPAN></span>
Uncle Tom’s summer home on the mainland
below Saturday Cove. From there, the Charlton’s
motor conveyed the now transformed Islander to the
New York express train at Rockland.</p>
<p>The only blight on the camper’s joy in Maine was
the necessity for “business fathers” to leave their
families there and return to the hot city. But often,
an extra week-end was tucked in by both Mr. Remington
and Mr. Farwell. Fate seemed to so arrange it
however, that both men were rarely on their respective
islands simultaneously. Uncle Tom Charlton was
more fortunate as his business allowed him a long continuous
vacation which he always enjoyed to the utmost.</p>
<p>“Captain,” said he to the returning launch-man,
“as soon as this fog clears, we’ll be over to see you all.
Tell Fred that two young college boys are going to be
my guests for the week-end and I want them to get a
taste of salt-water. They are from Georgia and while
they are out-of-doors fellows they have always lived
inland.”</p>
<p>This message was received with interest by Fred
and the other campers and the fog was again appropriately
consigned to “Halifax.”</p>
<p>“Never mind,” consoled Mrs. Remington; “use
this enforced curtailment of your liberty by doing
some listing up of your Woodcraft work.”</p>
<p>“That’s so! After we have filled the wood-boxes
and helped Captain clean and salt those fish we’ll just<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</SPAN></span>
look up the Nature <em>Coups</em> and see how much this
Pentagoet Tribe knows about the denizens of the
briny,” said Fred.</p>
<p>“Am I in your Pentagoet Tribe, now?” asked Paul.</p>
<p>“We will formally take you in at our first Council,”
replied Fred.</p>
<p>“Me too!” cried Dudley. “That’ll be great! I was
wondering how we’d fix it ’cause I want to be in a
Woodcraft Tribe and not by my lonesome all summer.”</p>
<p>Nature books, pencils and paper, to say nothing of
the “thinking caps” were all called upon that evening
to do active service, so the fog was forgotten. Paul
and Dudley triumphantly passed the examination of
the twenty-five different fish they had listed up and
identified. The lists were the same, as the two boys
had been together in the pursuit of this Nature <em>coup</em>.</p>
<p>With genuine pride they copied the list on the backs
of their official Honour claims for the fish <em>coup</em>.</p>
<p class="center">Fish <em>Coup</em>.</p>
<ul class="fish_coup">
<li> 1. Mola—or deep-sea Sunfish</li>
<li> 2. Cunner</li>
<li> 3. Hake</li>
<li> 4. Haddock</li>
<li> 5. Mackerel</li>
<li> 6. Pollock</li>
<li> 7. Harbour Pollock<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</SPAN></span></li>
<li> 8. Tom Cod</li>
<li> 9. Cod</li>
<li>10. Skate</li>
<li>11. Shark</li>
<li>12. Dog-fish</li>
<li>13. Monk-fish—or Angler</li>
<li>14. Toad-fish—or Puffer</li>
<li>15. Sculpin</li>
<li>16. Salmon</li>
<li>17. Flounder</li>
<li>18. Sword-fish</li>
<li>19. Halibut</li>
<li>20. Herring</li>
<li>21. Shad (Fresh water fish)</li>
<li>22. Brook Trout (Fresh water fish)</li>
<li>23. Catfish (Fresh water fish)</li>
<li>24. Brook Sunfish (Fresh water fish)</li>
<li>25. Suckers (Fresh water fish)</li>
</ul>
<p>Elizabeth helped Edith print the names of her list
which varied a trifle because she had gold-fish on her
fresh-water list and a lump-fish on her salt-water list
of fish.</p>
<p>“Oh,” cried Edith, “I wish you all could have seen
my little green lump-fish—he was <em>so</em> cute! Just like
a little mould of jelly.”</p>
<p>“Like a jelly-fish?” asked Paul.</p>
<p>“Mercy no! It was shaped like a real fish only it
was lumpy. Captain brought it to me in a bucket of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</SPAN></span>
water but I let it go again ’cause he was so little and
funny.”</p>
<p>“Say, isn’t it lucky for our lists that we were all
down in New London last summer and saw the fish
there before they were cut up for the market,” said
Dudley.</p>
<p>“You just bet! That gave us a good start—that
sword-fish and halibut they showed us there,” affirmed
Paul.</p>
<p>“Oh, look, boys! The fog is lifting!” cried Elizabeth.</p>
<p>“Perhaps it will be clear to-morrow,” added Fred.</p>
<p>So, cheered by this hope they all retired to their
tents which only the use of oil-stoves had rendered
dry in the dripping moisture of the fog.</p>
<p>The morning was lovely and the brisk nor’wester
blew away all memory of the fog. In spite of the
hard pull in the breeze, the boys insisted upon visiting
their lobster pots.</p>
<p>“Oh joy! a lobster to-day for every one of us excepting
Paul. But there are two in Fred’s trap,”
counted Billy.</p>
<p>“Yes, and one of them’s big enough to enter for the
prise contest. I’m going to weigh and measure it,”
said Fred, steering the boat into Treasure Cove.</p>
<p>A launch whistle sounded “toot-toot!” while the
scales and tape were being used for the lobster, and
there was the Orion bringing Uncle Tom and the two
big boys eager for the sights of the island camp.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</SPAN></span>
Friendships are quickly made under such conditions
and when the Orion returned Shelby Jordan and
Henry Pou were left for an over-night visit with Fred.</p>
<p>“I’ll lend them anything they need and besides, we
do not dress up for fishing you know,” Fred assured
his uncle and aunt, as they were saying good-bye to
the boys.</p>
<p>The whole island was explored and one of the
things that keenly interested the visitors was the Woodcraft
Council Ring. So many questions were asked
that Fred suggested a Council for that afternoon, that
the boys might see for themselves just how one was
conducted.</p>
<p>“Captain says we’re not going to under-run the
trawl to-day, as he wants to put the fish we already
have on the flats to dry. He’ll take us down to Flat
Island in the launch and then drop us off at Isola Bella
so we can invite the folks there. Then we’ll come
back and hold a Council here at four o’clock,” planned
Fred.</p>
<p>“Take along oil-skins and rubber caps,” warned his
mother, “or you’ll all get wet on the way back.”</p>
<p>The visitors were intensely interested in the fish-drying
operations and asked numerous questions of
Captain Ed. The latter had to admit that the fog
had been mighty bad for the “sweet” process of drying.
“But they always smell a <em>leetle</em> anyway, and a
few days of good hot sun will soon cure them now.”</p>
<p>It is doubtful however, if Shelby and Henry manifested<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</SPAN></span>
the same appetite for salt-fish after being present
at the scene on the flats where the “perfume
factory” was all-sufficient.</p>
<p>The first Common Council was a merry and impromptu
affair although conducted with due form and
in parliamentary fashion. Fred was in the chair as
“Island Chief” which was indeed the meaning of his
Woodcraft title of Wita-tonkan.</p>
<p>For the benefit of the visitors he gave a little talk
on Woodcraft and explained why they called the various
groups Tribes, and chose Indian names in recognition
of service or prowess.</p>
<p>“You see, we belong to the Woodcraft League
which is composed of groups of young folks and older
people, too, who like outdoor life and believe it helps
make better citizens.</p>
<p>“We Woodcrafters prove that sensible exercise in
the outdoors, preferably with some desirable aim in
view, prepares us for the business of life.</p>
<p>“The pioneers of this country learned genuine
Woodcraft from the Indians, and that is one reason
why, here in America, we use Indian ceremonies in
our Councils—sort of ”America First“ don’t you
know.</p>
<p>“Why should we go back to Greece for examples of
runners when the fleetest-footed Marathoners could
have been given points by the village heralds of an
Indian Tribe?</p>
<p>“When we hold a Grand Council we usually try to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</SPAN></span>
give it the semblance of a genuine American Indian
affair. Indian costumes and customs are not necessary
at all to Woodcraft but it adds a romantic touch.
Looking up all of these things really teaches one a lot
of American history, too.</p>
<p>“The same training and observation, and what I’ve
heard a professor call ‘Co-ordination of mind and
muscle’ with which the sturdy pioneers conquered the
wilderness enables us to get along better in more
civilised times—but maybe we’re not more civilised
after all, with this war in Europe and our share in the
savage condition of things.</p>
<p>“Well, to conclude, we boys are the Pentagoet
Tribe of Woodcrafters and the girls, during our life
on this Island, belong to us, too. At home, though,
we have separate tribes that we boys and girls belong
to.</p>
<p>“Now, brothers, we will begin by singing the Omaha
Tribal Prayer which means, ‘Father, a needy one
stands before Thee—I that sing am he.’”</p>
<p>With this, the Chief concluded and Elizabeth read
the Tally of the last summer’s last Council and the
Chair appointed her Tally-Chief again for the current
meeting.</p>
<p>The roll-call showed fourteen present, counting
visitors, and the reports of the scouts were confined to
the mola and the trawling. But Billy—or to give
him his ceremonial name of Shingebis—was interested
in the prospect of swimming, so he reported<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</SPAN></span>
on the temperature of the water in Treasure Cove.
In spite of the recent fog it was growing warmer every
day although it never was really comfortably warm.</p>
<p>The first business transacted was the welcoming
of Paul and Dudley into the Pentagoet Tribe, as they
were being transferred from the Grey Fox Band
started by Mrs. Remington the previous winter for the
Baker boys and their friends. The two boys did not
have to take an initiation again as that had been attended
to at the founding of the Grey Foxes.</p>
<p>Then came the awarding of Honours. The two
Georgia boys were quite surprised by the businesslike
way in which the <em>coups</em> were claimed and joined
in the chorus of “Hows” as Wita-Tonkan presented
the coveted <em>coup</em> feathers, symbolic of attainment.</p>
<p>When Edith was called upon she replied: “Oh
Chief! I want to claim my <em>coups</em> when papa is
present.”</p>
<p>“So do I, Oh Chief!” asserted Elizabeth, so the entertainment
continued with various challenges—the
visitors taking part in hand-wrestling, tub-tilting, and
racing, to their great satisfaction. Shelby Jordan
introduced a new stunt called “Japanese Cane-crawling”
and it proved to be a popular game.</p>
<p>It was nearly supper time when the Council closed
and the boys heard Mose ring the bell. The Isola Bella
contingent said good-bye and were soon on the homeward
sail while the Islanders hastened to avail themselves
of the call to supper.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</SPAN></span>
Having two Southern boys present to appreciate his
culinary skill, Mose outdid himself. The spoon-bread
and molasses and cocoanut pie vanished that
night like dew before a morning sun.</p>
<p>Two extra cots were placed in Fred’s sibley-teepee
and the visitors had the unusual experience of undressing
and going to bed before a little fire in the
centre of the tent: a comfort not to be despised on a
cool Maine night.</p>
<p>On the morrow a little southwest breeze was blowing
and the boys all hurried off to the trawl, Shelby
and Henry disguised in old trousers and sweaters
found in the “slop-chest,” as the closet back of the
living-room was termed.</p>
<p>When the boat reached the mooring buoy Shelby
asked, “What do you call that craft?” indicating an
old patched-sail lumberman that was tacking across
the water toward Sunset Island.</p>
<p>“That’s a two-masted schooner,” replied Billy.
“Isn’t she a beauty? Guess she’s old enough to vote.”</p>
<p>“Maine hasn’t got equal suffrage yet, or I guess she
would have been voting these many years,” chuckled
Fred.</p>
<p>“Say, Cap! Look at her now—she’s trying to run
down our Island,” cried Billy.</p>
<p>For some moments past the Captain had been watching
the old schooner and now he exclaimed: “By Heck!
They must all be asleep or dead on board her. If she
clears the south-end she’ll drift down on our Medric!”</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</SPAN></span>
Fear made the Captain turn his launch and make
for the little sloop Medric which was anchored off
the float-stage of Sunset Island.</p>
<p>With a booming crash, however, and a terrifying
slatting of sails, the old schooner piled up on the rocks
of the little peninsula-point on the extreme south of
the island, named Cape Horn by the Islanders.</p>
<p>Two lank youths were seen scrambling out of the
companionway of the vessel’s cabin and a third was
observed aft of the wheel. The breeze was increasing
every minute and the situation of the stranded
schooner was such that it was dangerous to board
her from the water. But, it was nearly high tide and
her bowsprit almost touched the grass on the high
bank, or spur of ledge that Billy called Pulpit Rock.
Consequently, it didn’t take long for the trawlers to
land and swing themselves aboard the wreck by means
of her jib-sheets and bobstay.</p>
<p>Mrs. Remington and the girls had heard the crash
and the shouts from the schooner and they all ran
from the bungalow to see what had happened; soon,
they too joined the others in the unusual excitement
of trying to save a wreck.</p>
<p>The young skipper and mate of the schooner were
crestfallen for it appeared they had been fast asleep
after a night of dancing and revelry in their hometown
of Rockport. The third youth was even more
disgusted with himself for he had been steering and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</SPAN></span>
had actually stretched himself out and dozed while
he left the wheel in a cleat.</p>
<p>“You’ve only got half an hour of tide to help yuh
git floated off,” called Captain Ed.</p>
<p>“Don’t we know it,” surlily replied the older boy,
most likely thinking of the reckoning with his stern
father who owned the Edward Everett.</p>
<p>“Well, I kin set you over to Sat’aday Cove so’s you
kin git some one to tackle this job,” offered the kindly
Captain.</p>
<p>“And they ought to do it right away, too, or she’ll
break up,” added Fred.</p>
<p>Without loss of time, therefore, the Rockport crew
accepted the Captain’s offer. Luckily for them, the
wind died down toward sunset. In the meantime, the
boys had under-run the trawl and added to their
abundant stock of fish on Flat Island.</p>
<p>The next day the irate father of the luckless mariner
arrived with two small fishing schooners and a load
of empty blue barrels which had once contained
“Pennsylvania Fluid.” The men worked hard all
morning, securing the barrels beneath the Edward
Everett, then when high tide came the now leaky
old craft was kedged back out of her rocky berth.</p>
<p>“Good-bye, Ned!” cried the irrepressible Dudley,
waving his cap at the departing schooner.</p>
<p>“Boy, you shouldn’t speak disrespectfully of an old
grand-daddy like that, er call him by his first name,”
admonished the Captain, jocularly.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</SPAN></span>
The Orion had appeared in time to watch the old
antique craft retire after her hardy bout with Sunset
Island rocks and when the excitement was all over
Uncle Tom called to Shelby and Henry to get their
things together as he was going to tote them back to
Rosemary.</p>
<p>The two boys were really sorry to go but they realised
that it was Mr. and Mrs. Charlton they were
visiting and at least a single day of the week-end was
due their hosts.</p>
<p>Farewells were said and Elizabeth, who had been
wildly scribbling while the boys were preparing to
embark on the Orion, now presented them with a
memento of their visit in the form of a parody on
“The Last Buccaneer” which she entitled “The First
Wreck on Here.”</p>
<div class="poetry-container">
<div class="poem">
<div class="verse">
<div class="line">The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling</div>
<div class="line indent">All sunny and fair in the morn,</div>
<div class="line">When the crew who were adoze, brought the Edward Everett’s nose</div>
<div class="line indent">On the ledges of Old Cape Horn.</div>
</div>
<div class="verse">
<div class="line">Up the ledges ran her keel, and to leeward did she heel,</div>
<div class="line indent">Till her jib-sheets flapped on Pulpit Rock;</div>
<div class="line">And the sleeping Rockport boys awakened by the noise,</div>
<div class="line indent">Laid sprawled around by the shock.</div>
</div>
<div class="verse">
<div class="line">“Oh, from Rockport’s clammy shore, where southerlies oft roar</div>
<div class="line indent">With our wheel in a cleat did we steer.</div>
<div class="line">Above I was asleep and below in slumber deep,</div>
<div class="line indent">My comrades were wrapped without fear.”</div>
</div>
<div class="verse"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</SPAN></span>
<div class="line">Oh, to-morrow shall be borne from the rocks of stern Cape Horn</div>
<div class="line indent">A loud cheer and a louder cry,</div>
<div class="line">As along the old jib-boom, for as many as there’s room,</div>
<div class="line indent">Shall the pirates of Sunset Island hie.</div>
</div>
<div class="verse">
<div class="line">Oh, the Medric, our pride, securely now may ride,</div>
<div class="line indent">In the breath of the balsam around,</div>
<div class="line">“Oh, Captain, there’s no use, to go and cut her loose,</div>
<div class="line indent">For the Edward Everett’s aground.”</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p>The next few days passed swiftly by in doing the
usual camp-work varied by Billy’s efforts to run the
launch—he was hoping to own one himself some day;
and the other boys’ indifferent success at wood-chopping
to keep the boxes filled, showed the youthful engineer
that they wished they could be with him.</p>
<p>Then came the day set aside by Mrs. Remington for
a “laundry party.” She said she hadn’t the courage
to send such awful clothes to the Islesboro Steam
Laundry.</p>
<p>However, the sting of this occasion was removed
by the unexpected promise of the first swim that season
when the wash was finished.</p>
<p>While the boys were soaking their trawling duds
in hot soapy water, good-natured Mose brought them
a large bottle of household ammonia. As he drew
near the tub he pretended to believe they were preparing
a new kind of fish chowder.</p>
<p>“Yo’ don’ tell me dem are cloe’s yo’ got fermentin’
in dat tub,” cried he aghast. “Why, dey’s got scales
like a fish, an’ dey smells like a fish, an’ Ah b’lieve<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</SPAN></span>
yo-all tryin’ t’fix up a new-fangle kin’ ov fish-soup!
It looks lak some ov dat tin-soup broth! Ah spec’s
hit’ll tas’ mos’ de same, too,” and Mose sniffed at the
aroma with a true chef’s expressive disdain.</p>
<p>The boys laughed and Mose hoaxed them until
every one was in a good humour, then the wise old
cook went back to his work chuckling to himself.
“Hit all depen’s on how yo’ han’le boys when dey gotta
nasty job on ’er han’s to do!”</p>
<p>Then, how the boys enjoyed their plunge in the
sea, even though Paul and Dudley confided to each
other that they were quite sure the temperature was
below zero that day.</p>
<p>Mrs. Remington herded them out in a few minutes
and the balance of the day was spent in trying various
athletic exercises to restore the quick circulation of the
blood of youth.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <SPAN name="War" id="War"></SPAN> <ANTIMG src="images/i-066.jpg" width-obs="400" height-obs="690" alt="" /> <div class="caption">THE WAR BONNET OF THE SAGAMORE.<br/> <em>Woodcraft Boys on Sunset <span class="wordspacing"> Island. Page</span></em>
<SPAN href="#Page_76">76</SPAN></div>
</div>
<hr class="divider" />
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</SPAN></span>
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