Bumpus snorted with disdain.
“Huh! don’t you worry about me, Giraffe,” he remarked cuttingly. “I wasn’t hatched yesterday. I’ve picked up a little intelligence since we were up in Maine, you must remember. And I’m not going to get lost; just put that in your pipe and smoke it, will you?”
With that he stalked off, and started toward the quarter where Thad had told him he would find the spring. Bumpus was never more sure of anything in his whole life than that he could never lose himself under such simple conditions as existed; and yet, strange as it may seem, that was just what he did manage to do.
CHAPTER XII
THE WANDERINGS OF BUMPUS
Bumpus managed to find the spring all right, for he kept on the alert. After satisfying his thirst, and starting back, he must have lost his bearings in some manner; perhaps on account of lying down on the side of the water that appealed most to him, and then making a mistake in commencing his return trip.
He did not realize this until he had been following what seemed to be the winding path for fully five minutes without coming to anything that looked familiar.
Then Bumpus was overwhelmed with chagrin. He could already picture Giraffe laughing at him if he raised his voice and called to the others to let him know where the camp lay. So he grimly determined to keep still, and find it for himself.
“Sure, I can do that without much trouble,” he told himself in a confident tone. “I know now where I made the mistake; and by turning to the right sharply I’ll come in on them from the other side. If Giraffe asks me why I did that I’ll give him to understand I was only scouting around a bit to see what the ground looked like.”
So with his mind temporarily relieved Bumpus once more commenced to push on. He found it harder going, now that he had abandoned what he had believed to be the trail to and from the spring. But Bumpus was very persevering, as most stout fellows seem to be, once they get going. He labored on until another ten minutes had slipped past. Still there was no sign of the spot where he had left his three comrades.
Again did he try to figure out where he had made a blunder. Why, this thing was really getting to be a big joke, and Bumpus feared he would have to face the music of Giraffe’s scorn after he did manage to find the rest. For even then his confidence in ultimate success had not been wholly chilled; it was only a matter of time, and figuring things out.