“Our last night in old Alligator Swamp, boys,” said Allan, as the afternoon began to wear along, and found them very comfortable, with the tents erected, and a cheery fire blazing near by, “and let’s make it a memorable one by every means in our power.”
“If we’re meaning to have a real pleasant evening,” spoke up Davy Jones, with a determined look upon his face; “then I move that the first thing we do is to make Bumpus here sink his old suit in the swamp, and put on his nice clean one.”
“Second the motion; and all in favor say aye!” shouted Giraffe, excitedly.
A loud shout attested that the desire was unanimous. Even Thad nodded his head.
“We’ve sure been a patient crowd, Bumpus, as you’ll admit,” he said; “and now that you’ve gone and got that nasty mud plastered all over you, we’ve reached the end of the rope. Here, take that jacket off, and hand it to me. I’ve got an idea the truth is about to come out. Oh! no wonder some of the boys have been complaining about this. See here, Bumpus, your cold is better, isn’t it? You can begin to sniff around some again, can’t you? Well, just take a whiff of this coat, and tell me what you think!”
Bumpus proceeded to do so, while the rest of the boys awaited the result. Sure enough, the round, jolly face of the fat scout immediately screwed itself up as if he were not favorably impressed.
“Put your hand in the inside pocket, Bumpus,” continued Thad, severely, “because I think you’ll find a little package done up in paper there, and which you’ve been wondering about this long while.”
A shout went up from the other boys when Bumpus did fetch out a small but very powerful packet, tied with the red cord used by druggists in their business.
“Why!” ejaculated the astounded Bumpus, staring hard at the contents of his hand; “would you believe it, that’s the very package I’ve been worrying my head off about, and never able to say whether I gave it to my ma, or left it at the house of some fellow I visited on the way home!”
“Yes,” Thad went on to say, “you put it in the pocket of your old jacket; and when you got home just rolled that up, and stowed it in your knapsack, because we were off the very next day. And when you put that suit on down here, you had such a bad cold in the head you never guessed a thing about it. Bumpus, do you know what that awful stuff is? Why, it’s just asafetida, one of the rankest drugs going. Most people have to keep it out in the barn, because it’s pretty nearly as bad as a skunk to have around. Perhaps your mother wanted to use it for a cold. I think that’s what they buy it for; and according to my mind it would scare any respectable cold off in one inning. Now, you just take this coat, and sink it as deep as you can in the swamp; yes, get in your tent and change to your new suit. We’ve stood about all we can of this thing.”