“Will these hoboes haul off now, do you expect, Thad, and give the cabin a wide berth?” asked Bumpus.
“Well, it begins to look as though they ought to steer clear of it, as long as we’re in possession,” the patrol leader replied. “Still, you can never tell. By now they must be feeling pretty ugly toward us; and when such men have a grudge pushing them on, it’s hard to say what they wouldn’t do.”
“Ketch me agoin’ to sleep then,” remarked Bumpus; but even while he was making this brave remark, with one of his hands he was trying to suppress a great yawn.
“Oh! I don’t suppose there will be as much danger as that,” Thad continued, not wishing to alarm his chums unnecessarily. “The guides will divide up the balance of the night into three watches; and if we like, one of us can keep company; in fact,” he went on in haste, fearing that Bumpus might, in the goodness of his heart, volunteer his services, which it would be hard to decline, “I’ll appoint Allan here as one of the assistants, to help out Jim; while Giraffe can stay up with Eli; and I’ll share the watch of Sebattis, because I want to have a little whispered talk with him as we sit alone.”
So it was arranged. Bumpus made out to feel a little hurt that he had been overlooked in the distribution; but Davy showed him that both he and Step Hen were in the same boat.
“Besides,” he added as a clincher, “you know you haven’t got any gun, Bumpus; and don’t know much about firearms anyway.”
“Don’t you forget it,” remarked the stout scout earnestly; “I’m just determined to know more about ’em right along, after this. The Boy Scouts may stand for peace, all right; but I c’n see right now that the feller that’s able to look out for himself is just the one that never gets trampled on. Be prepared to defend yourself, and chances are you’ll never be called on to do a blessed thing. Oh! I’m on to a few dodges. I ain’t so much asleep as some of you think. Wait till we go off on our trip across the Continent, with the money we’re going to rake in for recovering this stuff, an’ capturin’ the thieves; mebbe I’ll show you a thing or two then.”
“He’s got a programme all laid out, I do believe,” ventured Step Hen, afterward to Giraffe; “and expects to take lessons in shooting, and all sorts of stunts, once we get back to Cranford. But it’ll be the making of Bumpus if he does wake up and do all kinds of things. He’ll quit bein’ so fat then, and make muscle instead. And for one, I hope he carries it out.”
The entire party went back to the cabin. Here arrangements for the balance of the night were concluded, and the first pair sent out to take their places as sentries.
Bumpus had declared that he would not sleep a wink; but once he lay down, he really knew nothing more until he felt some one tugging at his sleeve.