"Wow! that hurts some, let me tell you, fellows!" groaned the fat scout, when Allan was putting some salve, calculated to help heal the wound, on the torn place, and then with the assistance of the scout-master started binding the hand up with windings of soft linen that came in a tape roll two inches wide.
"But let me tell you it's some chilly out here, with only pajamas on," objected Giraffe; "and for one I'm going to skip back under my blanket, where I can snuggle down. Somebody remember to throw a little wood on the fire, please. Let Davy do it."
Of course that really meant either the scoutmaster or Allan; and Giraffe often had a failing for shirking some duty like this. It was so easy to expect some other to do disagreeable things; though as a rule the boys were accustomed to saying, "let Davy do it," until it had become so tiresome that the Jones boy had rebelled, and refused to be the errand boy any longer for the entire patrol.
In half ah hour silence again brooded over the camp. Bumpus must have done something to make sure he did not start walking in his sleep again, for nothing occurred to disturb their slumbers until dawn came along and, with birds singing, as well as gray squirrels barking lustily at the intruders, awakened them all.
Breakfast was hurried, because all of them were' anxious to be on the move. They knew that by following the shore of the big water several miles they would come to the point where there was a village, with something of a landing place in a sheltered nook; and here they expected to find their boat awaiting them.
It was about an hour after sun-up that the cheery notes of Bumpus' silver-toned bugle gave the signal for the start; and the six khaki-clad lads could be seen moving at a fairly fast pace along the shore of the lake. Step Hen had managed to bundle the captive owl in a spare sweater, so he could carry him all right without danger.
The little waves came purling up close to their feet, and seemed to welcome the strangers to their domain; but Thad knew full well that under different conditions these same waves would unite to threaten them with destruction.
Step Hen having found a way to muzzle the owl, so that he could carry the prisoner, without fear of dire attacks from that sharp beak seemed more determined than ever to try and keep Jim; and he frowned every time he saw Bumpus observing the bird thoughtfully, because he imagined the fat scout might be hatching up a scheme for choking the thick-necked prisoner, in revenge for what he had suffered from its savage thrust.
Finally a loud shout was heard from Giraffe, who, being so much taller than the balance of the scouts, and possessed of a neck he could stretch to an alarming degree, was in a position to see much further than the rest.
"The village is in sight!" he announced, whereat there was a cheer, the owl commenced to struggle afresh, and Step Hen had his hands full trying to quiet his feathered prisoner.