TO accommodate the social self-organization that was appearing within the camp's population, each hut was divided into two teams, designated simply X Team and Y Team. Heading and seconding the teams provided roles for emerging leaders and gave the others a structure in which to seek niches suited to their temperaments. As a general rule, the authorities tried to preserve the relationships that had come about spontaneously when naming the leaders, But they also intervened with judgments of their own where they saw fit. The original assignments of individuals to huts had been somewhat arbitrary, and the assigning of the two teams was used to move cases of obvious misfit and incompatibility to different locations. Every hut changed its bunking arrangements to separate out the X Team and Y Team along opposite walls. An additional dimension of rivalry within huts thus added itself to the rivalry among huts, although it tended to be of a more friendly sort. The other team, although obviously there to be bettered, was still "us"—an ally and a source of support in the greater enterprise—whereas other huts remained definitely "them."
In Hut 3, Linc became undisputed leader of the X Team and opted for Angelo as his second. But this was overruled, and Angelo was instead made the leader of the Y Team. This posed problems of divided loyalty among some of the hut's remaining occupants, who were given a first-preference option as to which team they wanted to be in. Linc had a suspicion this was deliberate—to confront them with having to make a difficult decision that couldn't be evaded. In the end, the majority, including Mace, Rick, and both Macs, came with him on team 3-X. Todd, and also Kew, unexpectedly, went with Angelo and 3-Y, which also received most of the transfers from other huts. Julie, to no one's amazement, was made leader of one of the Hut 8 teams, 8-Y.
Some had expected Arvin to disappear from the scene after the incident at the campfire. But as others pointed out, he had never actually done anything that the rules said warranted his removal. And as Mr. Green observed, staying at Coulie evidently meant a lot to him—people of Arvin's outlook didn't take lightly to losing face. He was moved out of Hut 3, however; and then, to the astonishment of practically everybody, it was learned he'd been appointed the 7-X Team leader. Hut 7 seemed to have collected most of the problem cases—the troublemakers who created discord wherever they were put, but never quite enough to get RPO'd. Unruly and continually squabbling among themselves, they were generally written off as far as chances in the team stakes went. But as time went by, and after a spate of bashed heads and discolored eyes that the wardens seemed disinclined to question, the Hut 7 teams began turning in some quite creditable performances. Perhaps Arvin's brand of talent had its usefulness after all.
Vie, who had the kitchen chopping-and-dicing skills, was separated from Arvin and went to Hut 6. Flash, to the surprise of many, including Linc, stayed with Linc's team in Hut 3—after checking privately with Linc that there would be no objection. Flash was good with maps and figures, which was not one of Linc's strong points, and usually took care of the route planning and orienteering during expeditions. Reacting to Flash's obvious desire to mend bridges, Linc requested him as his second. Mr. Green promptly assented. Linc got the feeling that Mr. Green had been hoping for just that decision.
One evening some occupants of Hut 1 who thought they had clocked pretty good times for the running circuit and cross-lake swim posted their achievements on the general board in the mess hall with the caption BEAT THAT! Before the next morning was through, there was a posting that Hut 2 had done this, and by the end of the day every hut was taking stock of its repertoire of talents and proposing contests from log sawing to gymnastics that its leaders thought it had a chance to do best at. From then on, the sight of a noisy crowd jostling around the board to see who had set a new record for what, and what new challenges were being issued, became a regular feature of the evening. The hut wardens joined in too, and whether or not it was largely theatrical, showed every bit as much enthusiasm and commitment as their charges.
At the end of the third week—halfway through Phase One of whatever was going on—Mr. Black had the records posted of scores achieved in earlier courses at Camp Coulie. So now the huts were striving not only to be best among themselves but to be the best ever. Several of the team leaders came up with the idea of a tournament to be held near the end of the final week. The camp authorities agreed to it and didn't seem especially surprised; apparently that had also happened with the previous courses.
Of course, this quickly turned into a contest to see which hut would collect the most "golds." It was widely accepted that the first two places would go to Huts 2 and 6, which were exceptionally fortunate in their endowment of good performers.
Two blacks in Hut 2—inseparable from day one and instantly dubbing themselves "Amos 'n Andy"—were the best runners in the camp. There was a three-quarters Amerind called Patch—short for Apache—who seconded the 2-X Team and was in the same climbing league as Linc and only a handful of others. And just to gall everyone, the 2-Y Team, led by its hut warden, Mr. Brown, jogged—with packs—the last half mile home from a ten-mile hike, singing its way in through the gate to a version of the standard army chant:
We don't know but we've been told.
You guys 'round here are getting old.
Clear the way and watch Y-Two,
The best from Coulie is coming on through.
Hut 6, for its part, had three crack swimmers, a weight lifting buff, and the record holders for the mile in a two-man canoe.
In Hut 3, Mace was a strong swimmer, and Kew, lithe as a monkey, would score well in the gymnastics. The others included some good candidates for the team events. All in all, the hut leadership—Mr. Green, along with Linc and Angelo—figured that with the right choices they might have a fair chance for third place. This, while 2 and 6 vied between themselves to be first and runner-up, became the real prize the rest of the camp was shooting for.