“Just think of the lost chance to lay in a big wad of the long green, enough to carry us all the way across the continent, and see something of the Far West, like we’ve often talked about,” whined Bumpus.
Thad was indeed surprised to hear the fat boy talk like this, for Bumpus was, as a rule, a very peaceful boy, never willingly seeking trouble. Really, this anxiety in connection with that valuable letter, which he could not place, try as he would, seemed to have upset him entirely, so that he was no longer the same jolly Bumpus of old.
“Which would you rather do to-day, Bumpus,” the scoutmaster asked; “try and find these desperate men, and like as not get the whole of us into trouble; or hunt for a bee tree with Allan; while Davy and myself go with Eli for a hunt?”
There was no hesitation now, for with a wide grin Bumpus shouted:
“Bee tree, first, last and all time for mine!”
“Ditto here!” Giraffe followed by saying, as he laid a hand on the pit of his stomach, and bowed.
“Can you make the try, Allan?” queried the stout scout, turning appealingly in the direction of the second in command of the patrol.
“Do for goodness’ sake oblige the little fellow,” urged Giraffe. “Because we’ll sure hear of nothing else every hour of the day. When that feller gets a thing on his mind he makes me think of the woman in the sleeping car, who kept saying out loud in the night, again and again; ‘Oh! I am so thirsty; I am so thirsty!’ till a traveler, who couldn’t sleep, got up, and went and gave her a cup of water. He was just tryin’ to drop off again when she started in, and this time she kept sayin’, ‘Oh! I was so thirsty! I was so thirsty!’ Then he gave up tryin’ to get a snooze till she tired out. And that’s the way with Bumpus, boys.”
“But can we make the try this morning, Allan?” persisted the stout boy, when the laugh at his expense had died away.
“Better say yes, and save yourself a heap of trouble,” suggested Step Hen, who was himself a little anxious to see how the search might be conducted.