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Beginning
Ethical Hacking
with Python
—
Sanjib Sinha
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Beginning Ethical
Hacking with Python
Sanjib Sinha
www.allitebooks.com
Beginning Ethical Hacking with Python
Sanjib Sinha
Howrah, West Bengal, India
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-2540-0 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-2541-7
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4842-2541-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016963222
Copyright © 2017 by Sanjib Sinha
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole
or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
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The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even
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While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the
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responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
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Printed on acid-free paper
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DR. AVIJIT SEN, DRISTIPRADIP, KOLKATA.
(For Bringing Light into Darkness)
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Contents at a Glance
■
■Part I������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
■
■Chapter 1: Legal Side of Hacking��������������������������������������������������� 3
■
■Chapter 2: Hacking Environment���������������������������������������������������� 5
■
■Chapter 3: Installing Virtual Box���������������������������������������������������� 9
■■Chapter 4: Installing Kali Linux and
Other Operating Systems on VB��������������������������������������������������� 13
■
■Chapter 5: Linux Terminal, Basic Commands������������������������������� 21
■
■Part II���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35
■
■Chapter 6: Python 3 and Ethical Hacking������������������������������������� 37
■
■Chapter 7: Python Environment���������������������������������������������������� 39
■
■Chapter 8: General Syntaxes�������������������������������������������������������� 43
■
■Chapter 9: Variables, Objects and Values������������������������������������� 49
■
■Chapter 10: Conditionals�������������������������������������������������������������� 67
■
■Chapter 11: Loops������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
■
■Chapter 12: Regular Expressions ������������������������������������������������ 75
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■ Contents at a Glance
■
■Chapter 13: Exceptions, Catching Errors�������������������������������������� 81
■
■Chapter 14: Functions������������������������������������������������������������������ 85
■
■Chapter 15: Classes���������������������������������������������������������������������� 97
■
■Chapter 16: String Methods�������������������������������������������������������� 121
■
■Chapter 17: File Input And Output���������������������������������������������� 127
■
■Chapter 18: Containers��������������������������������������������������������������� 129
■
■Chapter 19: Database����������������������������������������������������������������� 137
■
■Chapter 20: Module�������������������������������������������������������������������� 149
■
■Chapter 21: Debugging, Unittest Module������������������������������������ 153
■
■Chapter 22: Socket and Networking������������������������������������������� 157
■
■Chapter 23: Importing Nmap Module����������������������������������������� 159
■
■Chapter 24: Building an Nmap Network Scanner����������������������� 165
■
■Part III������������������������������������������������������������������������� 169
■
■Chapter 25: Protect Anonymity on the Internet�������������������������� 171
■
■Chapter 26: Dark Web and Tor���������������������������������������������������� 173
■
■Chapter 27: Proxy Chains����������������������������������������������������������� 179
■
■Chapter 28: Virtual Private Network or VPN������������������������������� 185
■
■Chapter 29: MAC Address����������������������������������������������������������� 191
■
■Epilogue—What Next������������������������������������������������������������������ 195
Index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197
vi
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Contents
■
■Part I������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
■
■Chapter 1: Legal Side of Hacking��������������������������������������������������� 3
■
■Chapter 2: Hacking Environment���������������������������������������������������� 5
Ethical Hacking and Networking������������������������������������������������������������� 6
What Does Network Mean?��������������������������������������������������������������������� 6
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8
■
■Chapter 3: Installing Virtual Box���������������������������������������������������� 9
■■Chapter 4: Installing Kali Linux and
Other Operating Systems on VB��������������������������������������������������� 13
■
■Chapter 5: Linux Terminal, Basic Commands������������������������������� 21
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
■
■Part II���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35
■
■Chapter 6: Python 3 and Ethical Hacking������������������������������������� 37
■
■Chapter 7: Python Environment���������������������������������������������������� 39
vii
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■ Contents
■
■Chapter 8: General Syntaxes�������������������������������������������������������� 43
Create the main( ) function ������������������������������������������������������������������� 43
Indentation and White Space���������������������������������������������������������������� 44
Commenting������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 46
Assigning Values����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
■
■Chapter 9: Variables, Objects and Values������������������������������������� 49
Using Numbers�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 52
String����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 54
What is Type and ID������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 56
Logical Values��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59
Tuples And Lists.����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 60
Dictionary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63
Object���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 64
■
■Chapter 10: Conditionals�������������������������������������������������������������� 67
■
■Chapter 11: Loops������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
While Loops������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
For Loops����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 71
■
■Chapter 12: Regular Expressions ������������������������������������������������ 75
Using “re” Module��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 75
Reusing With Regular Expressions�������������������������������������������������������� 77
Searching with Regular Expressions����������������������������������������������������� 78
■
■Chapter 13: Exceptions, Catching Errors�������������������������������������� 81
viii
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■ Contents
■
■Chapter 14: Functions������������������������������������������������������������������ 85
Return Values���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 90
Generate Functions������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 90
Lists of Arguments�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 93
Named Arguments��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 94
■
■Chapter 15: Classes���������������������������������������������������������������������� 97
Object-Oriented Methodology��������������������������������������������������������������� 97
The Foundation of Object Orientation���������������������������������������������������� 97
Understanding Classes and Objects������������������������������������������������������ 98
Write Your Own Game, “Good Vs Bad”������������������������������������������������� 102
Primary Class and Object�������������������������������������������������������������������� 106
Accessing Object Data������������������������������������������������������������������������ 111
Polymorphism������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 114
Using Generators��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 116
Inheritance������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 117
Decorator��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119
■
■Chapter 16: String Methods�������������������������������������������������������� 121
■
■Chapter 17: File Input And Output���������������������������������������������� 127
■
■Chapter 18: Containers��������������������������������������������������������������� 129
Operating on Tuple and List Object������������������������������������������������������ 130
Operating on Dictionary Object����������������������������������������������������������� 135
■
■Chapter 19: Database����������������������������������������������������������������� 137
Let us start with SQLite3.�������������������������������������������������������������������� 137
MySQL for Big Project������������������������������������������������������������������������� 138
ix
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■ Contents
■
■Chapter 20: Module�������������������������������������������������������������������� 149
■
■Chapter 21: Debugging, Unittest Module������������������������������������ 153
■
■Chapter 22: Socket and Networking������������������������������������������� 157
■
■Chapter 23: Importing Nmap Module����������������������������������������� 159
■
■Chapter 24: Building an Nmap Network Scanner����������������������� 165
■
■Part III������������������������������������������������������������������������� 169
■
■Chapter 25: Protect Anonymity on the Internet�������������������������� 171
■
■Chapter 26: Dark Web and Tor���������������������������������������������������� 173
Hidden Wikipedia��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 174
■
■Chapter 27: Proxy Chains����������������������������������������������������������� 179
■
■Chapter 28: Virtual Private Network or VPN������������������������������� 185
■
■Chapter 29: MAC Address����������������������������������������������������������� 191
■
■Epilogue—What Next������������������������������������������������������������������ 195
Index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197
www.allitebooks.com
About the Author
Sanjib Sinha writes stories and codes—not always in the same order.
He started with C# and .NET framework and won a Microsoft Community
Contributor Award in 2011. Later, the Open Source Software movement attracted him and
he became a Linux, PHP, and Python enthusiast, specializing in and working on White
Hat Ethical Hacking.
As a beginner, he had to struggle a lot—always—to find out an easy way to learn
coding. No one told him that coding is like writing: imagining an image and bringing it
down to Earth with the help of words and symbols.
All through his books he has tried to help beginners from their perspective—as a
beginner.
xi
About the Technical
Reviewer
Abir Ranjan Atarthy is a Certified Ethical Hacker from Ec-Council, ISO27001 Auditor and
PCIDSS implementer.
He has more than 12 years of extensive domain experience in driving the
Information & Cyber Security programs in all key aspects i.e. Policy, Standards,
Procedures, Awareness, Network Security, Web security, Android App Security, Incident
Response, Security Analytics, Security Monitoring, Malware protection, Security
configuration, Cryptography, Data Protection Knowledge of most advanced tools in
security industry with complementing knowledge on scripting languages to manually
exploit vulnerabilities.
He has authored several technical articles which have been published in IT security
journals and is frequently invited to speak at many cyber security conferences and
Python forums.
He has designed cyber security courses for Corporates on network and web
penetration testing, forensics, and cryptography.
Abir regularly conducts work-shops, training sessions and certification programs
for corporates, government organizations, defence establishments, security agencies,
engineering colleges and universities on Python programming, penetration testing and
cyber forensics.
He has created several IT security and cryptographic tools using Python.
He has accomplished short term Programs in Object-oriented programming and
Selected Topics in Software Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology -Kharagpur.
Abir is considered a subject-matter expert in cyber security and is often quoted by
leading newspapers and TV channels.
Presently he is leading the Cyber threat intelligence department in TCG Digital
Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
xiii
Acknowledgments
KARTICK PAUL, SYSTEM MANAGER, AAJKAAL, KOLKATA, Without his persistent and
inspiring help, I could not write this book.
xv
Prologue – Hacker’s Goal
This book is intended for complete programming beginners or general people who know
nothing about any programming language but want to learn ethical hacking.
Let us clear it first: Ethical Hacking is not associated with any kind of illegal
electronic activities. They always stay within laws. This book is intended for those people
– young and old – who are creative and curious and who want to develop a creative hobby
or take up internet security profession acting as ethical hacker. Keeping that in mind we’ll
also learn Python 3 programming language to enhance our skill as ethical hackers.
This book is not intended for any kind of malicious user. If anyone tries to use this
book or any type of code examples from this book for illegal purpose this book will take
no moral responsibility for that malicious behaviours.
If you think that you can use this book for any malicious purpose then you are
advised to read the first chapter “Legal Side of Ethical Hacking”. I hope you won’t like the
idea of ending up in jail by harming some other systems.
I would like to start this brief introduction with an image. This image depicts many
things that I will later discuss in detail. It says, “The author is using “Ubuntu” Linux
distribution as his default operating system. He has installed Virtual Box – a kind of
virtual machine – that runs in Windows also. And in that Virtual Box he has installed three
more operating systems. One is “Windows XP” and the other two are “Kali Linux” and
“Windows 7 Ultimate”. The image also says, and that is very important, “Currently three
operating systems are virtually running on the desktop”.
xvii
■ Prologue – Hacker’s Goal
(The virtual Box is running three operating systems. You can try any kind of
experiment on this Virtual OS. That will not damage your main system.)
As an ethical hacker you will learn how to defend yourself. To defend yourself
sometime you need to attack your enemy. But it is a part of your defense system. It is a
part of your defense strategy. More you know about your enemy’s strategy, more you
can defend yourself. You need to learn those tools are frequently used by the malicious
hackers or crackers. They use the same tool that you use to defend yourself.
Whether you are an ethical hacker or a malicious cracker, you do the same thing.
You use the identical software tools to attack the security system. Only your purpose or
intention differs.
Probably you know that a big car company before launching a new model of
car generally tests the locking system. They have their own security engineers and
besides they call for the locking experts to test the vulnerability. They pay a good
amount of money if you can break the locking system of the car. Basically it is a work
of “PENTESTING”. The locking experts PENTESTS the system and see if there is any
weakness in the system.
It is good example of ethical hacking. The locking experts are invited to do the
job and they are paid well. On the contrary car thieves do the same job without any
invitation. They simply break the locking system of an unattended car parked on the road
side and take it away. I hope by now you have understood the difference between ethical
hacking and cracking.
xviii
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
Tom obeyed, grunting, and the dead trunk was laid at the edge of
the cliff.
“What’s going to keep it from rolling over onto your head?” asked
Tom of Dan.
Dan looked puzzled. So did the others.
“Seems to me,” said Nelson, “we didn’t get this more’n half
planned out.”
“History teaches us,” said Dan, “that even the world’s greatest
generals have been quite frequently ‘up a tree.’”
“Wonder if they were ever up a bluff?” murmured Tom.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Dan, after a moment’s consideration of the
problem, “we’ll have to drive stakes on each side of the log; see?”
“Yes,” Bob answered dryly, “but I don’t see the stakes.”
“That’s easy. Who’s got the biggest knife?”
It appeared that Tom had; so Dan borrowed it, and set to work
cutting down a stout branch and converting it into four stakes some
eighteen inches in length. It took a good while, and the other three
fellows disposed themselves comfortably on the ground and looked
on.
“Wish those Wickasaws had broken their silly necks!” grumbled
Nelson. “We’re going to miss our soak.”
“Maybe we’ll miss our dinner, too,” said Tom.
“Oh, cut it out!” said Bob. “You can eat to-morrow. I don’t see
what you want to eat for, anyhow, fat as you are.”
At last the stakes were done and were driven into the turf at each
side of the log, Tom mashing his finger with the rock which he was
using as a hammer. Then Bob and Tom and Nelson manned the
rope, and Dan wriggled over the edge of the cliff, feet foremost,
keeping a tight hold on the rope. When only his head remained in
sight he winked merrily.
“If I make a mess of it, fellows, kindly see that you find all the
pieces,” he called. “And don’t forget to put on my headstone
‘Requiescat in pieces.’”
Then the flaming red head disappeared, and the fellows let the
rope slip slowly around the tree. It seemed a long while before it
slackened. When Bob got to the edge Dan was scrambling over the
rocks into the bushes. Presently he was back flourishing the brush
and can.
“We don’t need to pull you all the way up again,” shouted Bob.
“We’ll get you up where you are going to paint and then lower the
can down to you. Is that all right?”
“All right,” echoed Dan. Then he stepped onto the seat at the end
of the rope and waved his hand. Bob and Nelson laid back on the
rope, and slowly it began to come up over the log, Tom securing the
slack after each haul with a double turn around the tree. Finally
there came a shout, and, after a glance over the edge, Bob directed
them to make fast, and tied the twine to the can of blue paint and
lowered it. Suddenly there was a yell of dismay and wrath from
below.
“See what’s wrong!” cried Bob.
Nelson crawled to the edge and peered over. Then he crawled
back, and seemed to be having a fit on the turf. Tom looked down,
and then joined Nelson.
Bob stared at them as though they had suddenly gone insane.
“What’s the matter, you idiots?” he cried. But Tom only shrieked the
louder, while Nelson rolled onto his back, held his sides, and kicked
his heels into the turf, gasping. In disgust Bob got cautiously to his
knees, tied the line around a stake, and had a look for himself. Thirty
feet beneath sat Dan on his wooden seat, muttering incoherently
under a baptism of bright blue paint. The can had caught on the
edge of a tiny projecting ledge and had tilted in such a way that a
portion of the contents had slopped over onto Dan’s bare head, and
even yet was still trickling a tiny stream. At first glance, so
thoroughly was Dan’s head and face adorned, it seemed to Bob that
the entire contents of the can must have been emptied. But a
second glance showed him that at least three-fourths of the paint
still remained at the end of the cord. He swung it away so that it no
longer dripped, and hailed Dan.
“What’s the good of wasting the stuff like that, Dan?” he asked
with simulated anger.
Dan raised a strange blue visage from which his eyes peeped
coyly upward. “If you’ll haul me up I’ll lick you within an inch of your
life!” he said solemnly. Then he spat and sputtered and tried to wipe
the sticky fluid from his face with his arm, his hands being already
well covered.
Tom and Nelson, who had managed to creep to the edge for
another look, here retired precipitately so that they might indulge
their mirth where there was no danger of laughing themselves over
the edge.
“Too bad, Dan,” laughed Bob. “Haven’t you got a handkerchief?”
“Handkerchief!” said Dan scornfully. “What good would that be?
What I need is a Turkish bath and a dozen towels. Say, did you do
that on purpose, you—you blamed fool?”
“No, honest, Dan, I didn’t. I didn’t know what was up, until Nelson
was taken with a fit.”
“Fit! I’ll fit him!” said Dan with a grin. “How do I look?”
“Like New Haven after a football victory!”
“Huh! Well, let’s have that stuff and get this fool job done!”
“Sure you don’t want to come up and clean off a bit?”
“I’m not coming up until the thing’s done, I tell you. Lower away
on that paint, only for goodness’ sake be careful!”
“Of course I will! What’s the saying about gilding refined gold and
painting the lily, Dan? There’s no use wasting any more of this
precious stuff on you; you’re complete now. I couldn’t add to your
beauty if I had gallons and gallons here!”
“Shut up!” said Dan cheerfully; “and tell those two other idiots
that if they don’t stop laughing I’ll go up there and paint ’em from
head to feet!”
Here Tom looked over.
“Su-su-say, Dan,” he shouted, “di-di-didn’t you mean ‘Re-re-
requiescat in pu-pu-pu-paint’?”
“Shut up, Tom,” gurgled Nelson, thrusting his blushing
countenance over the edge. “Can’t you see he has enough already
to make him blue?”
But Dan made no answer. He was tracing a monstrous C on the
face of the cliff with a dripping brush.
He was tracing a monstrous C.
He was sitting at the table on the porch of Birch Hall, and the lines
that pleased him were burned on a wooden tablet affixed to the big
stone chimney across the room. His gaze, returning from the
quotation, fell on Tom, who at a neighboring table was, like Nelson,
writing home. One of Tom’s legs was twined around the camp-stool
upon which he was seated, as a morning-glory vine twines about a
post. The other leg was stretched straight ahead, as though seeking
inspiration at a distance. His forehead was puckered with wrinkles
until it resembled the surface of a washboard, and he chewed
ravenously at the tip of his pen. Nelson smiled, and let his gaze
wander back to his own task only to have it prove truant again,
attracted by the scene at his left.
The porch overhung the hill, and from where he sat he looked into
the swaying branches of the trees. Between them, like turquoises set
in a field of emerald and chrysoprase, shone patches of the lake
ruffled to a tender blue by the breeze that sang amid the trees.
Near-by a silver poplar flashed the under surface of its leaves into
the sunlight, so that they seemed to have been dipped in pale gold.
A gray squirrel chattered and scolded on a neighboring limb, and all
about birds sang blithely. Nelson sighed, and brought his eyes
resolutely back to the half-written letter before him. It wasn’t a
morning for letter-writing; the woods called too loudly; his thoughts
would stray.
“Oh, hang it!” exclaimed Tom, “I don’t know what to write!”
“Did you tell them about the ants last night?” asked Nelson
innocently.
“You bet I did! And say, one of those bites still aches like the
mischief. I never thought ants could nip like that!”
“You probably rolled over on them; that’s enough to make any
self-respecting ant angry.”
“Oh, dry up and blow away! What are you writing about?”
“Not much of anything—yet. I mentioned the ants. And the
weather; I suppose they’ll be pleased to know what sort of weather
we had two days before they get my letter! I’ve got almost a page
about the weather.”
“Gee! I wish I could write like that. I told ’em it was a fine day, but
it only took a line. Wish I could string it out like you can! I guess I’ll
just say that I’m well, and that it’s time for dinner, so no more at
present.”
“Time for dinner! Why, it’s only half past nine!”
“Oh, you’re too fussy,” answered Tom, drumming on the table with
his pen. “Besides, it’s always time for dinner!”
“Have you told them about your aunt?”
“Great Scott, no! I forgot all about her. Say, you’re a true friend,
Nel!” And Tom, after scowling fiercely at the tip of his pen for a
moment, took a firmer hold of the camp-stool with his leg and began
to write vigorously, so vigorously that Nelson feared he would break
his pen. Ten minutes passed, during which Nelson finished his own
letter, and Tom, having told of Aunt Louisa’s visit in a scant half-
dozen lines, informed his parents somewhat unnecessarily that “the
weather continues fine,” and that “I will tell you more in my next,”
and signed himself “Your loving son, Thomas Courtenay Ferris.”
Then, having hastily sealed and stamped their letters, they
dropped them into the mail-box with sighs of relief and hastened
out-of-doors.
“Let’s go up to the tennis-court and be lazy until time for church,”
suggested Tom.
So they climbed the hill, found a place where the grass offered
comfort and the overhanging branches promised shade, and
stretched themselves out. Above them was a wide-spreading oak,
behind them a little settlement of young birch carpeted with trailing
evergreen and partridge-berries. Bordering the path were blueberry
and raspberry bushes and goldenrod, the latter already beginning to
glow, although August was but just at hand. Thereabouts grew wild
strawberries, if Tom was to be believed, although they had long
since ceased fruiting. Rocks outcropped on every side, and tall ferns
grew abundantly. It was Tom who presently wiggled forward and
plucked from a tiny covert of evergreen and grass three oddly
shaped blossoms, pallid and translucent.
“What the dickens are these things?” he asked perplexedly. He
viewed them suspiciously as though he feared they might poison
him.
“Indian-pipe,” answered Nelson. “Monotropa uniflora. Let’s see
one.”
“Are they poisonous?”
“No, indeed, but they do look a bit unhealthy, don’t they? Corpse-
plant they’re called, too.”
“They sure do; look like mushrooms gone wrong. Indian-pipe, eh?
Gee, I guess nobody but an Indian would want to smoke such a
thing! Say, they smell nice, don’t they?”
“Nice?” repeated Nelson suspiciously. “Smell pretty bad, I
suppose. By jove, they don’t though. Say, they’re real sweet! I never
knew that they had any odor before. If it was stronger it would be
mighty sweet, wouldn’t it? It’s—it’s what you might call illusive.”
“That’s a fine word,” said Tom lazily. “Ill-use-ive, of no use.” He
tossed them aside and settled his hands under his head, staring
drowsily up into the sun-flecked branches. “Good night; wake me in
time for dinner.” He was really dropping off to sleep when Nelson
called to him softly:
“Say, Tom, come over here.”
“What for?” asked Tom sleepily.
“I want you to see this beetle,” giggled Nelson. “He’s the craziest
dub you ever saw. Come, look!”
“Beetle!” muttered Tom disgustedly. Nevertheless he found
sufficient energy to wriggle along on his stomach to the other’s side.
“Where’s your old bu-bu-beetle?” he asked.
“There,” answered Nelson, pointing with a twig. He was a small
chap, grayish-black in color, with what Nelson declared to be the
Morse code written down his back. He was trying to get somewhere,
just where wasn’t apparent, for no sooner did he make headway in
one direction than he changed his route and started off in another.
He was laughably awkward, and bumped into everything in his path.
“Bet you he’s been eating toadstools,” said Tom, “and is very ill.”
“I’ve named him ‘Tom,’” said Nelson soberly.
“Think he looks like me?” asked Tom.
“N-no, but he walks like you.”
“Huh! Look at the idiot, will you?” The beetle had encountered an
acorn at least ten times his size and was vainly striving to shove it
out of his path. Again and again he stood on his hind legs and tried
to move the acorn, acting in a most absurdly exasperated way.
“He’s getting terribly mad,” said Nelson. “It doesn’t occur to him, I
suppose, that he can walk around it. Let’s take it out of his way; if
we don’t, he’ll stay there all day and never get home to his family.”
So the acorn was flicked aside with Nelson’s twig. But the effect on
the beetle was not what they had expected. He immediately began
to run around very hurriedly in a tiny circle as though trying to make
himself dizzy.
“Bet you he’s wondering where the acorn went to,” said Tom.
“Look at the idiot! Hey, get up there!” And Tom, borrowing Nelson’s
twig, gave the beetle a shove. Apparently that was just what he
needed. After a moment, spent perhaps in gathering his thoughts,
he started off in a new direction and covered six inches of ground,
knocking into every blade of grass and every tiny obstruction on the
way. Then, for no apparent reason, he crawled in at one end of a
dried and curled leaf and proceeded to try and get out again by
climbing the sides. As the sides curved inward he had a terrible time
of it. Six times he fell onto his back, all legs waving wildly, and had
great difficulty in regaining his equilibrium. At last, quite by accident,
he got too near one end of the leaf and tumbled out. Then he took
up his journey again.
“I don’t think insects have much sense,” said Tom disgustedly.
“This one hasn’t, that’s certain,” said Nelson. “If he doesn’t look
out he’ll— There he goes, plump into that spider-web. Why, any one
could have seen it! Look at him! Tom, you’re an awful fool!”
“Huh?” said Tom in surprise.
“I was addressing your namesake,” explained Nelson.
The namesake was blundering deeper and deeper into the tiny
web, reminding the watchers of a man walking through a series of
hotbeds as depicted in a comic paper. Finally, by sheer weight, the
beetle came out on the other side with a large part of the web
trailing behind him, and a very small spider, looking like the head of
a black pin, emerged from her hiding-place and began to run
excitedly over the scene of her former habitation.
“Don’t blame her,” grunted Tom. “Things are certainly torn up.”
The beetle, doubling in his tracks, progressed without further
misadventure for almost a foot. Then he stopped, dug his head into
the earth, and waved his legs vexatiously.
“Oh, he’s plumb crazy!” laughed Nelson.
“I guess he dropped something and is looking for it,” said Tom.
“Perhaps it’s his watch. Or maybe——”
Tom’s further surmises were rudely interrupted. Up the hill floated
a most unmelodious shout. Nelson sat up as though he had touched
a live wire.
“Great Scott!” he exclaimed, “what’s that?”
“It’s Joe Carter,” said Tom. “He learned that yell from his brother,
who was on the Yale freshman crew.”
“It sounds like—like a banshee!”
“Never heard one,” said Tom.
“Really? I had a tame one once,” answered Nelson, laughing.
“You mean bantam, I guess. Hello, there he goes again. Maybe
he’s calling us.” And Tom lifted up his voice in a weak imitation of
Carter’s awful effort.
“Oh, you can’t do it, Tommy, my boy. Why, I couldn’t have heard
that ten miles!”
But Carter wasn’t that far off, and presently, after sending an
answering hail, he appeared in the path.
“Say, you fellows, Clint wants to see you in the office.” Then he
dropped his voice to an awed whisper. “He’s found out about the
sign on the cliff,” he added.
“Phew!” said Nelson. “Was he mad?”
“N-no, I don’t think so, but it’s hard to tell,” Carter replied. “But he
looked pretty serious. He’s sent for Bob and Dan, too.”
The latter were coming up the hill into the clearing as Nelson and
Tom appeared from above. They exchanged sympathetic grins and
shakes of the head, and then composed their features and filed into
Poplar Hall. Mr. Clinton was at his desk behind the railing.
“Bring some chairs over here, boys, and sit down so that I may
talk to you. That’s it. Now, how about this blue-paint episode?”
His glance encountered four rather sheepish faces, but every eye
met his fairly. It was Bob who spoke first.
“We all had a hand in it, sir.”
“That’s so, sir,” Tom supplemented. And Nelson nodded. Dan alone
gave no sign. Mr. Clinton observed the fact and looked surprised.
“You didn’t have a hand in it, then Speede?” he asked.
Dan’s face suddenly wreathed itself in a broad smile and his blue
eyes twinkled.
“I was pretty near all in it, Mr. Clint,” he answered. “You see, sir,
they emptied the pot of paint over me!”
The Chief smiled a little.
“Too bad they didn’t use it all that way,” he said. “Now, look here,
boys; I’ve heard how you rigged up ropes and slung—slung one of
your number over the cliff——”
“That was me, sir,” interrupted Dan modestly.
“Whoever it was, it was a foolhardy and dangerous piece of
business. You might have fallen and broken your neck. I’ll confess to
a feeling of admiration for the pluck displayed, but I have no
sympathy for the achievement. I am responsible for the welfare of
you boys while you’re here in this camp. How do you suppose I
could have faced your folks, Speede, if you had injured yourself?”
“I don’t think the danger was so great as you think, sir,” answered
Dan. “We—we took every precaution.”
The Chief sniffed audibly. “The only sensible precaution would
have been to have an ambulance waiting at the bottom,” he said
dryly. “If you had to endanger your limbs—and I confess I can’t see
the necessity of it—I’d prefer you did it in some better cause. In
plain language, what you committed was an act of vandalism. To
daub up the scenery with a lot of blue paint is nothing else. It shows
not only mighty poor taste, but selfishness as well. The Lord put that
cliff there to be a part of the natural scenery, for people to look at
and enjoy. And when you deface it you are depriving others of their
rights, merely to give yourselves an instant’s selfish satisfaction.”
He paused and awaited a reply; finally:
“It was Wickasaw started it, sir,” said Tom. “They painted their
name there first, and they hadn’t any business doing that, sir; and
so——”
“And so you thought you had to outrage good taste also? A very
poor excuse, Ferris. Now I want you to promise never to attempt
anything of the sort again. And I want you to promise, too, that
whenever, not only while you’re here but all your lives, you know of
an attempt on the part of any one to deface the natural scenery, you
will do all in your power to prevent it. What do you say?”
“I’ll promise, sir,” said Bob, and the others chimed in.
“Very well. I am pretty certain you went about this thing
thoughtlessly, and I don’t want to be hard on you; but at the same
time I can not altogether overlook it. Let me see; you asked for
permission, didn’t you, to take dinner at the Inn?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I gave it. Now I fancy you accord me the right of retracting
that permission, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” said Nelson softly.
“Yes; well, I think you had better stay in camp the rest of the day.
That’s all, boys.”
“Mr. Clinton,” said Tom, as they replaced their chairs, “please, sir,
will you stop at the Inn landing for my aunt? I told her we’d be over
to dinner and take her on the launch afterward, and I guess she’ll be
worried.”
“H’m. I’d forgotten your aunt was here, Ferris. When does she
return to the city?”
“First train in the morning, sir.”
“Well, you may come along on the launch, I guess, all of you. But
no going to the Inn for dinner, you understand.”
“No, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Outside they heaved sighs of relief.
“Gee!” said Dan, “we got out of that cheap, didn’t we?”
And all concurred. Only Tom looked sorrowful.
“They have swell grub at the Inn,” he murmured regretfully.
CHAPTER X
DESCRIBES AN AFTERNOON ON THE LAKE
AND A GALLANT RESCUE