That same day we hiked out through Woodstock. Harry Donnelle said we had
to be careful, because the woods were infested with poets and authors
and artists, but I should worry, who’s afraid of a poet? We saw a lot of
them and they wore funny big neckties and long hair. But anyway, Harry
said they were harmless. They live in little shacks.
We went around the Ashokan Reservoir and then along the road down
through Atwood and Stone Ridge till we got to the Wallkill River, and
that night we camped near New Paltz. There’s a great big abnormal school
there, or a normal school, or whatever you call it. I should worry.
Anyway, there’s one thing I like about school, and that’s vacation.
The next day we followed the Wallkill River and caught some perch and
cooked them for supper, and that night, around the fire, we made Harry
tell us how he saved four privates on the West Front. The next morning
we started off again and passed a place named Great Bluff. It was a
great bluff all right, because it was so small you could send it by
Parcels Post.
Pretty soon we came to a place named Tanner’s Crossroads. I couldn’t see
anything so cross about them. But anyway Mr. Tanner was cross enough to
make up. He wouldn’t let us take a short cut across his land. What cared
we?
I don’t know how big the village was, because I didn’t have a ruler with
me. I guess somebody must have dropped the village there and never
noticed it. That night we slept just inside of a village named _Slow_.
Anyway, that’s what it said on a sign alongside the road. Harry said it
meant for autos to go slow. I made flapjacks that night.
In two days we came in sight of the Hudson. I knew it would be there. Oh
boy, but we climbed some hills. Pretty soon we could see Haverstraw, but
we didn’t go near it. We camped in a dandy place outside the town. And
that’s the place where we had our big adventure. Maybe you’ll remember
how I said our hike got tied in a knot in one place. Well, that was the
place.
So now I’m going to tell you about that adventure. It has girls in it
and everything. And it shows you how boy scouts can be heroes. It has
two heroines, so maybe if you don’t like one, you’ll like the other.
One’s an emergency heroine, that’s what Harry said.
Now maybe if you’ve read all about our adventures up at Temple Camp,
you’ll remember that my sister Marjorie was going to have a birthday
party. I told Mr. Ellsworth that I would like to go home for that party
and go back to Temple Camp the next day. Maybe you will remember about
it, on account of my saying that she was going to have cocoanut frosted
cake.
Now on that night that we were camping near Haverstraw, I happened to
think about it being my sister’s birthday. I just happened to think of
it while we were sitting around our camp-fire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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