At that the tall scout started to savagely tear at one-half of his bird; and not to be outdone the other boy copied his example. Perhaps at home they would have complained long and loudly because the cook had sent food to the table only half done; but then circumstances alter cases; and sitting there by their lonely camp-fire under the pines and hemlocks, those two boys munched away, and nodded toward each other in a suggestive way, that told how much they were enjoying it.
What if the meat was far from being well cooked, did not those who knew say that game should never be browned; and as for the gray ash that still clung to the outside of each bird, why, the wood was sweet and clean that it came from; and every fellow has to eat his peck of dirt sometime or other, they understood.
And so they kept persistently at it until nothing but the bones remained of the two partridges; and each boy was sighing because, like Alexander of old, there were no more worlds to conquer.
“That was just prime!” declared Bumpus; “and to think that I shot the dandy birds too; so you owe your fine supper to me, Giraffe.”
“I do, eh?” chuckled the other. “How about the fire, tell me that? How’d them same birds tasted raw? You wouldn’t have liked ’em as much, I reckon. So, you see, after all, Bumpus, honors are about even; you supplied the game, and I fixed up the fire. Better call it a drawn battle, and end it.”
“All right, just as you say; but the only trouble I can see is they wasn’t near big enough to fit in with my capacity. There’s a vacuum still under my belt; even if I don’t feel faint any longer.”
“Oh! I guess we can hold out now till morning,” said Giraffe. “Then we’ll take our bearings again, and make another start for the camp. And p’raps some of them might just be out looking for us right now; and seeing this bright fire, they’ll head this way. So we’ll act like we’re havin’ the time of our lives; and don’t you ever go and let on that we felt scared even a little bit, hear now?”
Bumpus, having a little pride of his own, readily promised. Besides, now that they had partaken of a very good supper, and had that bright and cheery fire to keep them company during the remainder of the cold night, things looked vastly different; so that it was hard to believe he had ever shivered and groaned as he contemplated their forlorn condition.
They sat there, talking about various things, for quite a little time. Once or twice Bumpus fancied he heard some sort of sound in the woods that caused him to send a quick glance toward where he had laid his “trusty Marlin” down; but then, as Giraffe did not seem to pay any attention to the noise, he soon forgot it.
But there came a time when both of them plainly heard a cough.