Camping -- Fiction; Manners and customs -- Fiction
"Well," said Sadler, "it is a camp with a good deal of comfort in it. Our
Number One camps are pretty rough. They are for hunters and scientific
people. We give them game enough in season, and some bare places where
they can make fires and stretch a bit of canvas. That is all they want, to
have a truly good time. That is the best camp of all, I think. Number Two
camps are generally for fishermen. They always want a chance for pretty
good living when they are out in the woods. They stay in camp in the
evenings, and like to sit around and have a good time. Number Threes are
the best camps we put families into, so you see, madam, I'm rating you
pretty high. There's always a log-cabin in these camps, with cots and
straw mattresses and plenty of traps for cooking. And, more than that,
there is a chance for people who don't tramp or fish to do things, such as
walking or boating, according to circumstances. There's one of our camps
has a croquet-ground."
"Oh, we don't want that!" cried Margery, "it would simply ruin every
illusion that is left to me."
"Glad to hear that," said Peter. "If you want to play croquet, stay at the
hotel; that's what I say. Now, then, here are the camps, and there's
plenty of them to choose from. You've come in a good time, for the season
isn't fairly begun yet. Next month every camp will be full, with the hotel
crowded with people waiting for their turns."
"What we want," said Margery, rising and looking over the map, "is the
wildest Number Three you have."
"Oh, ho!" said Peter. "Not so fast, miss; perhaps we'll wait and see what
this lady has to say first. If I'm not mistaken, madam, I think you're
inclined the other way, and I don't put people into camps that they will
be wanting to leave after the first rainy day. Now let me show you what
I've got. Here is one, four hours' walk, horses for women, with a rocky
stream through the middle of it."
"That is grand!" cried Margery. "Is it really in the woods?"
"Now let me do the talking," said Peter. "They are all in the woods; we
don't make camps in pasture-fields. Even the Number Sevens, where the
meals are sent to the campers from the hotel, and they have bath-tubs, are
in the woods. Now here is another one, about three miles west from the one
I just showed you, but the same distance from here. This, you see, is on
the shore of a lake, with fishing, boating, and bathing, if you can stand
cold water."
"Glorious!" cried Margery. "That is exactly what we want. A lake will be
simply heavenly!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account