Page 22 - Save the Last Dance for Me

Meeting with the boys, the dads, and the

other scout leaders in the community, I finally
pieced it all together. As soon as they arrived at

the campsite, Harry, seeing a groomed snowmobile

trail, decided that was the right road. He drove
onto it, followed by the other dads, and soon all

three vehicles were stuck tight. They dug and

shoveled and pushed until one o’clock in the
morning to get them out, all the while having no

food and no camp set up. By the time they got the

vehicles out, they were cold and sweaty, but even

though Harry had already gotten a hernia, he was
still dogged determined to make this a success.

The boys and the dads laid straw on the snow

and set the tent on it while Harry tried to start a
fire. The breeze kept blowing the matches out, so

he decided to build the fire in the tent and then

move it out to the fire pit. The fire caught the straw

on fire, the straw caught the tent on fire, the tent
caught the supplies on fire, the supplies caught the

kerosene cookstove on fire, and the ensuing

explosion caught the next camp on fire. From
there, there was a chain reaction from campsite to

campsite and troop to troop. By the time the fire

department came, almost every troop had lost gear,
and some barely escaped with their lives. The

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