Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan Read online

  Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark

  THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.]

  ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN

  BY

  PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH

  Author of

  TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE, ROY BLAKELEY, ETC.

  ILLUSTRATED

  PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

  GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK

  Made in the United States of America

  COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP

  Table of Contents

  I--Some Expedition! II--Who We All Are III--Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why? IV--Pee-Wee's Watch V--The Caravan VI--Stranded VII--A Good Turn VIII--Grumpy IX--Military Plans X--The Signal Corps at Work XI--A Mysterious Footprint XII--A Discovery XIII--Tom Slade, Scout XIV--Pee-Wee's Goat XV--The Message XVI--Brent's Ambition XVII--A Side Show XVIII--A Shower Bath XIX--Brent Gets His Wish XX--We Consider Our Predicament XXI--Getting Started XXII--Silence! XXIII--Fixing It XXIV--Snoozer Settles It XXV--Big Excitement at Barrow's Homestead XXVI--To the Rescue XXVII--Another Discovery XXVIII--A Mysterious Paper XXIX--The Mystery Deepens XXX--We Make a Promise XXXI--We Reach Our Destination XXXII--Surrender and Indemnity XXXIII--Mobilizing XXXIV--Tr-r-aitors! XXXV--Peace With Indemnity XXXVI--Scouts on the Job XXXVII--That Mysterious Paper Again XXXVIII--The Only Way

  ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN

  CHAPTER I--SOME EXPEDITION!

  Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry Domicile, I know there'sgoing to be a lot of fun. Just the same as I can always tell if we'regoing to have mince turnovers for dessert. That's one thing I'm crazyabout--mince turnovers. I can tell when I go through the kitchen ifwe're going to have them, because our cook has a kind of a look on herface. I can eat five of those things at a sitting, but that isn't sayinghow many I can eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, even whilehe's talking at the same time. Anyway, that hasn't got anything to dowith Harry Donnelle.

  Maybe you're wondering why I named this chapter "Some Expedition." If itwas about Pee-wee Harris, I'd name it "Some _Exhibition_," because thatkid is a regular circus. So now I guess I'll tell you.

  One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of our porch taking a restafter mowing the lawn. I was thinking how it would be a good idea ifthey had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We've got a great big lawnat our house. At Doc Carson's house they have a little bit of alawn--he's lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a safety razor.

  All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming up the street. I guess maybeyou know who he is, because we had some adventures with him in otherstories. He's a big fellow, I guess he's about twenty-five. He was alieutenant in the war. My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn'tsay so in a story. I should worry about her. He comes up to our house alot. Believe me, that fellow's middle name is adventure. He says all hisancestors were crazy about adventures. He says he wouldn't have anyancestors unless they were. He says that's why he picked them out. Geewilliger, you ought to hear him jollying Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee thatonce he lived in obscurity and Pee-wee wanted to know where that was.Can you beat that? Harry told him it was in Oregon. Good night!

  So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across the lawn, I kind ofknew there was going to be something doing. Because only a few daysbefore that he had told me that maybe he would want my patrol to helphim in a daring exploit. Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoorsports--daring exploits. I eat them alive.

  He said, "Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake Holden last night and wegot into a school of perch."

  I said, "Don't talk about school; this is vacation."

  He had a bundle with some perch in it and he said they were for supper.So I took them into the kitchen and while I was in there I ate someicing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be all icing, but our cooksays you have to have a foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof.

  When I went back Harry said, "I suppose you kids will be starting forthat old dump up in the Catskills pretty soon." He meant Temple Camp. Isaid, "We take our departure in two weeks."

  He said, "Take your which?"

  I said, "Our departure; don't you know what that is?"

  "Well," he said, kind of puzzled like, "I guess I'll have to pike aroundand get some assistance somewhere else. I've got a little job on handthat I thought might interest you and your patrol. Ever hear of theJunkum Corporation, automobile dealers? They have the agency for theKluck car. They're down in New York. It wasn't anything much; just alittle hop, skip, and a jump out west, and back again."

  "In junk cars--I mean Kluck cars?" I blurted out.

  "Mostly junk," he said; "but of course, as long as your plans aremade----"

  "Never you mind about our plans," I told him; "tell me all about it."Because, gee, I was all excited.

  He said, "Well, there isn't much to it; just a little gypsy and caravanstuff, as you might say. My sister's husband's brother, Mr. Junkum, istearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because he can't get carshere from the west. He says the customers are standing on line and allthat sort of thing and that everything is clogged up at the other end,the railroads are all tied up in a knot, the freight is piled up as highas the Woolworth building and nothing short of a good dose of dynamitewill loosen up the freight congestion out west. If it was a matter ofFord cars he could get them through by parcel post, but with these bigsix cylinder Klucks it's a different proposition. He's got three touringcars and a big motor van waiting for shipment out in Klucksville,Missouri, and if he can't make deliveries in a couple of weeks or so hiscustomers are going to cancel. Poor guy, I'm sorry for him."

  That's just the way Harry talks. He said, "One of those cars, the bigenclosed van, is for Jolly and Kidder's big store in New York."

  "That's where I bought my last scout suit, at Jolly and Kidder's," Itold him.

  Then he said, "Junkum wanted me to see if I couldn't round up two orthree fellows and bang out to Klucksville and bring the cars home undertheir own power. I told him the roads were punk and he said it's punk tohave your business canceled, so there you are."

  "Oh, bibbie," I said, "we'd love to do that only we can't run cars onaccount of not being old enough."

  Then he said, "I rounded up Tom Slade and he agreed to die for thecause--said his vacation was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck inFrance and he's a bug on good turns. Rossie Bent has promised to run oneof the touring cars, I'm going to run the van myself and that leaves onetouring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on the long distance 'phone upat Newburgh to-day, but he wasn't home--out grouching around, I suppose.His mother said she'd have him call me up or wire me. All I want now isa commissary department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe you kidscould camp in the van and cook for the crowd and make yourselvesgenerally useful. The way I figure i
t out by the road map there'll belong stretches of road where we won't bunk into any towns. I figured ontaking Pee-wee along as a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancyjim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I thought he could be oneof those, as you might say, and bring us good luck. He'd be a wholecommissary department in himself, I suppose, considering the way heeats. But if you can't you can't, and that's all there is about it."

  "What do you mean, _we can't_?" I shouted at him. "You make me tired! Doyou suppose Temple Camp is going to run away just because my patrol is acouple of weeks late getting there? You bet your life we'll go. If youtry to sneak off without us, we'll come after you. We're coming back inthat motor van, so that's settled. I should worry about Temple Camp."

  He just sat there on the railing alongside of me, laughing.

  He said, "I thought it would hit you."

  "Hit me!" I told him. "Believe me, it gave me a knockout blow."

  He said he'd stay to supper so as to talk my mother and father into it,because they don't care anything about making long trips in motor vansand things like that, and maybe they'd say I'd better not go.

  But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to handle mothers and fathersall right, especially mothers. So don't you worry, just leave it to him.

  The worst is yet to come.

  II--WHO WE ALL ARE

  What do you think my father said? He said he wished he was young enoughto go along. Oh, but he's a peach of a father! So is my mother. Mysister Marjorie said she'd like to go too. Harry said that no girls wereallowed. He said that girls were supposed to stay home and receivepicture post-cards. Gee whiz, I'm sorry for them. I'm glad I'm not agirl. But if I wasn't a boy I'd like to be a girl.

  That night we had our regular troop meeting. Cracky, you can't get thatbunch quiet enough to tell them anything. You know how it sounds in agraveyard? And you know how it sounds in a saw mill? Well, a graveyardsounds like a saw mill compared with the noise at one of our meetings.So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, that I had something to sayand he said they should let me have the chair. Then they began throwingchairs at me. It's good he didn't tell them to let me have the floor, orthey'd have ripped that up, I suppose.

  "I'd like to get your ear," I shouted.

  "You'll get our goat if you don't say what you've got to say," DocCarson yelled.

  "I'm trying to say it if I can get your ear," I said.

  "You can have anything except my mouth," Pee-wee piped up. Good night,he needs that.

  Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down and I told them how HarryDomicile wanted the Silver Fox Patrol (that's my patrol) to go out westand how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even though he was one of theraving Ravens. I said the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he couldblow up the tires and we wouldn't have to have any pump. Pee-wee likesauto tires, because they're the same shape as doughnuts--that's what Itold him.

  There's one good thing about our troop and that is that one patrol nevergets jealous of another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere theother fellows don't get mad, because they get more to eat. Absence makesthe dessert last longer. In our troop each patrol does as itpleases--united we stand, divided we sprawl. Each patrol always has morefun than the other patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybodyelse, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. Pee-wee is in theRavens, because he got wished onto them when the troop started, but hebelongs to all three patrols, kind of. That's because one patrol isn'tbig enough for him. He spreads out over three.

  So this is the last you'll see of the Ravens and the Elks in this story.Maybe you'll say thank goodness for that. They went up to Temple Camp.There were fifty-three troops up there and everybody had more dessertbecause Pee-wee wasn't there. So that shows you how my patrol did a goodturn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, you have to remember to do good turns Ifyou're a scout.

  Now this story is all about that trip that we made to bring back thosefour machines, and believe me, we had some adventures. If you were tosee Jolly and Kidder's big delivery van now, all filled up with bundlesand things C. O. D., you'd never suppose it had a dark past. But,believe me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. You learn about theDark Ages in the fifth grade--that's Miss Norton's class. She's myfavorite teacher because she has to go to a meeting every afternoon andshe can't keep us in.

  So now I guess I'll start. The next morning who should show up but BrentGaylong. He didn't even bother to wire. He said he didn't believe intelegrams and things like that when it came to adventures. He's awfulfunny, that fellow is--kind of sober like. He's head of a troop up inNewburgh and we met him when we were on a hike once. He can drive a Fordso easy that you don't know it's moving. He says most of the time it's_not_ moving. He's crazy about adventures. Good night, when he and HarryDomicile start talking, we have to laugh. He said he'd do anythingprovided we got into trouble. Harry told him there ought to be plenty oftrouble between Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful hard toget arrested but he never can.

  Now I'll tell you about the other fellows. Harry was the captain--he hadcharge of the whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. But onething, Harry never does anything for money. He says money is no goodexcept when it's buried in the ground and you go and try to find it.That's the kind of a fellow he is. He didn't get killed three times inFrance. But he came mighty near it. He's got the distinguished servicecross. He lives in Little Valley near Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town.I don't mean I own it. Harry's got a dandy Cadillac car of his own. Hetakes my sister Marjorie out in it.

  There was one other big fellow that went on that trip and that wasRossie Bent who works in the bank. He got his vacation especially so hecould go. He's got light hair. Often when he sees me he treats me to asoda.

  Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, and he's a big fellow too,only you bet your life I'll never call him a big fellow, because beforehe went to the war he was in our troop. And even now he's just like oneof us scouts. I guess maybe you know all about him. Believe me, the warchanged him more than it changed the map of Europe.

  That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows in my patrol. So nowI'll tell you about them. First comes Roy Blakeley (that's me), and I'mpatrol leader. That's what makes me look so sober and worried like. Ihave to take strawberry sundaes to build me up, on account of the strainof managing that bunch. Next comes Westy Martin; he's my special chum.He's got eleven merit badges. He's awful careful. He does his homeworkas soon as he gets home every day, so in case he gets killed it will bedone. I should worry about my homework if I got killed. Next comes DorryBenton, only he was in Europe with his mother so he didn't go with us.If he had gone with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners couldn'tgo because his brother was going to be married. The rest of the fellowswere Charlie Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, Brick andSlick. They're just the same, only each one of them is smarter than theother. You can't tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoesand the other doesn't. That's the way I tell them apart. If I see one ofthem eating potatoes I know it's Slick. That leaves only one fellow, andgee whiz, I'm going to give him a chapter all to himself and I hopehe'll be satisfied. Some day he'll have a whole book to himself, Isuppose. _Good night!_

  III--WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY?

  Anyway Pee-wee Harris _is_, that's one sure thing. His mother calls himWalter and my sisters call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular name.He's our young hero and some of the fellows call him Peerless Pee-wee,and some of them call him Speck.

  If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee would be a Ford. That'sbecause he's the smallest and he makes the most noise. He eats all hisfood running on high. He never has to shift his gears to eat dessert.Even if it's a tough steak he takes it on high. He's a human cave. He'sabout three feet six inches in diameter and his tongue is about six feetthree inches long. He has beautiful brown curly hair and he's just toocute--that's what everybody says. His nose has got three freckles on it.He
starts on compression. When he gets excited Webster's Dictionaryturns green with envy.

  Now the way it was fixed was that we were all to meet at the BridgeboroStation at three o'clock the next day so as to get the three-eighteentrain for New York. Then we were going to go on the Lake Shore Limitedto Klucksville--that's near St. Louis.

  When Pee-wee showed up at the station he looked like the leader of abrass band. His scout suit was all pressed, his compass was danglingaround his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited should lose its way, Isuppose, and his scout knife was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-axon too. I guess that was so he could chop his way through the forests ifthe train got stalled. He had his camera and his air rifle and his swampboots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel bag on the end of hisscout staff. And, oh, boy, he had a new watch.

  I said, "_Good night_, you must have been robbing the church steeple.Where did you get that young clock? If it only had an electric bulb init we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed to keep time?"

  "It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of time, it's big enough,"Harry said. "Are you going to take it with you or send it by express?"

  I said, "Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep a lot of time; itholds about a quart."

  "You make me tired!" Pee-wee shouted. "It's warranted for a year."

  "I bet it takes a year to wind it up," Westy said.

  "Anyway we can drink out of it if we get thirsty," Will Dawson told him."It's got a nice spring in it."

  "It doesn't vary a second," Pee-wee shouted. "Look at the clock in thestation; that's Western Union time."