the valley of the gasper eaux.—invading the enemy’s territory.—defiance.—returning home to find their own territory invaded.—the camp.—the missing ones.—where are they?—the gaspereaugians?
the next night the noises in the attic were renewed. bart lay calmly slumbering, and remained undisturbed, but all the rest of the boys were very greatly excited. they turned out of their rooms, and talked with one another in the halls, and most of them passed a sleepless night. tom and phil, who roomed near bart, knocked at his door to rouse him. he got up, opened the door, and declared that they had better go back to bed. he assured them that it was a hoax, and that pat was probably at the bottom of it. for his part he was sleepy, and wouldn’t bother himself about it that night at any rate. so tom and phil, seeing his indifference, went back to bed, and fell asleep. bruce and arthur, however, being close under the attic, were more disturbed; and after trying in vain to sleep, they rose, took a lamp, and went up into the attic. jiggins again met them as they came out of their room, at his door, but declined going up. so the two brothers went up together, and looked around for some time without finding anything. while they were up there the noises ceased; but after they had gone down, disgusted with this second failure, the noises were renewed. but familiarity breeds contempt, and bruce himself had lost his superstitious fear. he was convinced that it was a hoax, and so he felt only irritated at the noise. having failed to discover the cause, both he and arthur went to bed, and for the rest of the night, in spite of the noises, they slept soundly.
on the following morning bruce proposed a walk to gaspereaux. all acceded to this proposition except bart. he did not care about going. he had several things, he said, which he wished to attend to. after vain efforts to persuade him to accompany them, an arrangement was finally made that he should meet them at the camp at four o’clock. this bart acceded to, and promised to bring provisions enough to supply them all with a bounteous and a generous repast.
the school was all alive that morning with excitement. nothing was talked of, nothing thought of, but the unaccountable noises in the attic. again, as before, the theories of superstition were put forth. again, as before, jiggins and bogud shook their heads solemnly over the matter, and declared that there was something serious in it. again, as before, pat went around among the boys giving a terrific account of his own experience, and expatiating upon the hardships which he had to undergo in living in a room which was close to that place of horror—the attic. but in spite of his professed fear, pat did not seem to suffer in bodily health in any way. his appetite was as good, his complexion as ruddy, and his spirits as active as ever; and all the boys, as they heard his terrific experience, wondered how he could stand it so well.
immediately after breakfast, bruce and the other boys started off for gaspereaux, leaving the whole school in this wild state of excitement. bruce, at the breakfast table, had entered into an argument with jiggins about the noise in the attic, in which he maintained the theory that it was a hoax by somebody. jiggins, on the other hand, boldly asserted that the noises were supernatural, and announced his belief that it was done by some wandering frenchman who had been exiled at the expulsion of the acadians, and would never be at rest till the school should be given up. bogud, billymack, johnny blue, sammy ram ram, and pat supported jiggins; while muckle, bart, arthur, tom, and phil sustained bruce. the argumentation was tremendous, but, as usual, resulted in nothing, since each was resolved to maintain his own opinion. of those who thus argued, two only understood the case: the one was pat, who said a great deal on his side of the question; the other was bart, who only made an occasional remark, and created a vague surprise by his general reserve. he was usually outspoken and positive, but now he contented himself with general remarks and indistinct hints. but though bart said little on this occasion, he kept his eyes open, and observed much. he noticed pat’s demeanor in particular, and marked the eager volubility with which he supported jiggins’s theory. this only strengthened his belief that pat was, as he said, at the bottom of it, and made him more determined than ever to concoct some plan which should bring pat to confusion, and force him to a confession.
such avas the state of things, when bruce, avith his friends, started off to gaspereaux, leaving bart behind them, with the understanding that he should join them, with provisions, at the camp, at four o’clock in the afternoon. they took fishing-rods with them, and anticipated a day of sport.
the valley of the gaspereaux lay about a mile behind the academy, and was one of the most beautiful places in all that beautiful country. the river has its origin in several lakes, which are only a few miles away from the sea; and after flowing from these, between lofty hills and over precipices, where it falls in picturesque cataracts, it winds its way onward towards the basin of minas.
on either side arise steep slopes, and through the narrow valley between these the river winds. it is only a small stream in many places, easily fordable, and the numerous trout at certain seasons make it a favorite resort for the angler. the narrow valley is dotted with trees and groves, the borders of the little stream are lined with willows, the soil is exceedingly fertile, and amid the foliage of trees and the green vegetation the cottages of the farmers and the tapering spires peep forth, with a picturesque beauty which adds new charms to this romantic spot. a road winds down one side of the valley and up the other, and this road crosses the stream by a bridge, which forms a central spot, from which the eye may wander over a landscape, which for soft and quiet loveliness may be equalled by few, and surpassed by none, of those which in other climes have been celebrated by the poet or the artist.
but to venture into this delightful valley was not so safe for the boys of the grand pré school as was desirable. to go there was to penetrate into an enemy’s country, and to encounter all the dangers of such an enterprise. for the feud which raged between “town and gown” extended over to gaspereaux, and the boys of this valley were the chief enemies of the school. the winter was the great season for campaigning, and then many were the snow-ball fights which took place between the hostile parties. during the other seasons there was a kind of truce; the gaspereaugians were generally busy on their farms, and no pitched battles occurred. still, at any season, it was not pleasant for any one belonging to the school to find himself alone in gaspereaux. for this reason they generally went in parties. sometimes, also, the gaspereaugians would invade the academy woods, and commit various depredations, such as breaking the dams, or tearing down the camps. such was the state of things at this time.
along the crest of the hill that separates gaspereaux valley from grand pré there ran a road originally made by the french acadians, and known as the ridge road. a drive along this affords a series of the most magnificent prospects imaginable, and it was a favorite walk for all connected with the school. bruce and his companions did not descend at once into the valley, but turned up the ridge road, and walked along for some distance. at last they descended through the woods into the upper part of the valley, and came to the river. it was quite shallow, and the boys walked up its bed, stepping from stone to stone, and occasionally taking to the bank as they came to some deep spot. they all had brought rods and lines, and at length varied their pursuits by fishing. they found plenty of angle-worms by turning up stones here and there. phil was most successful, for he succeeded in hooking seven very fine trout. bruce caught four, arthur three, and tom five. at length they grew tired of fishing, and as they felt hungry they made a fire, and cooked the trout on the coals. they had no salt, but they found the old proverb to be true, that hunger is the best seasoning; and so, being excessively hungry, they all found the broiled trout delicious.
amusements and occupations like these took up many hours, and so the time passed, till at length they began to think of returning. they decided to go back through the valley, and beard the lion in his den, by facing the gaspereaugians in their own retreat.
off they all started then, and taking the road, they walked along down the valley. at every step they expected to encounter the enemy; but, to their surprise, no enemy appeared. the boys whom they saw from time to time were too small to deserve notice. reaching at last the place where the road wound up the hill and went to grand pré, they turned aside, and strolled along to the centre of the village. this was where the bridge crossed the river. it was a beautiful place. an island lay midway, and just above the bridge was another island. here they staid for some time, and fished; but no fish appeared. what was still more wonderful, no gaspereaugians appeared, either.
they could not account for it. they felt disappointed. it seemed like a slight. after waiting as long as they could, they had to turn away at last; and it was with something like indignation that they started back to the academy.
the rest of the journey was uneventful; but when they reached the camp in the woods, where they expected to meet bart, a strange and startling sight met their eyes.
the brook ran along through a little dell, and on either side the banks arose. by the camp the bank on one side was steep, and covered with trees; but the other side, a little lower down, was a gentle slope, bare of trees, and green with short, soft grass.
and on this place bruce and his companions saw a crowd of boys standing, regarding them with hostile faces, and apparently bent on mischief.
they were the gaspereaugians.
the gaspereaugians!
now they understood it all. this, then, was the reason why they had gone through gaspereaux unmolested. they had not been troubled, for the simple reason that the gaspereaugians had themselves been off on a foray, and this was their enterprise. they wondered what had become of bart and solomon; and as bruce thought of this, a dark frown came over his face, and he stood looking at the gaspereaugians like a thunder-cloud.
