They really enjoyed that supper immensely. Possibly it was because they had such keen appetites after waiting so long in the cool night air; but no matter what the cause they left the table satisfied.
“Next thing is to get some sleep,” remarked Bumpus.
“We’re going to step out a bit first, Bumpus, and push the car under a shed, so it will be hidden,” Allan told him.
“Oh! we don’t have to lie around again to guard the same, I hope,” suggested the fat scout, who was hoping to have clean sheets and a mattress for a change, instead of just ordinary hay.
“No, we’ve decided to cut that out this time,” Thad explained, “because we don’t believe there’s going to be any stealing done. I’ll cripple the machine again by taking away some part; and with no petrol aboard it ought to be safe.”
They were given a couple of large rooms that overlooked the front of the house. When Thad thrust his head out of a window he could see the road, and the watering trough where as Giraffe had told them the horses of the Belgian field battery rushing to the front had stopped to drink.
All seemed peaceful and quiet. If a dog barked occasionally, or a nearby rooster gave vent to a few crows, as was his habit at certain hours of the night, none of the tired lads were likely to pay any attention to such common sounds. They figured that given two more days, with as much progress accomplished as had marked the one just passed, and they should be beyond the danger line, with what could be called a clear field ahead of them.
So doubtless as they settled themselves to sleep, two in each room, and with good clean and comfortable beds under them, their last thoughts must have been of hopes for the morrow, and wishes for as few interruptions as possible.
Allan was Thad’s bed-fellow, which of course left Bumpus and Giraffe to pair off—“the fat and the lean,” as the tall boy remarked when proceeding to get most of his clothes off and try that “dandy-looking bed.”
Thad could not go to sleep very easily, for a wonder. It was not that he had any reason to anticipate coming trouble, for as far as he could see there was nothing of the sort in sight. So many things persisted in crowding into his mind that for once his plan of settling down did not seem to work very well.