“Well, now, ma’am,” replied the weather man, “I think we c’n git more snowshoes at Mosquito Ranch, which is halfway up this here mountain here from my place to th’ lake. I got two good pair myself. An’ we c’n git a beef critter killed for us at the ranch an’ freeze th’ meat an’ take a lot of it along with us. Besides, I got a lot o’ jerky, which comes in mighty handy when everything else has give out.”
“Have you any soap?” asked Mary crisply.
“Why, yes’m—I got a whole case of her that’s never been opened.”
“Take it along,” said Mary.
“Why, Mary Temple!” cried Charmian. “What need have we for a hundred cakes of soap? Think of the weight it will add to the pack, which weight ought to be composed of something to eat.”
“Henry himself will need half a case,” said Mary. “Don’t for a minute imagine, Charmian Reemy, that I mean to live like an Indian on this fool trip. Supplies are supplies, and no supplies are complete without an ample amount of soap. Henry, did you think about the snowshoes and the beef when you proposed setting off at six o’clock to-morrow morning?”
“Well, now, no’m,” Henry confessed, shifting his great weight from one huge foot to the other. “Maybe I just didn’t,” he added weakly.
“And you didn’t want to go until Charmian promised to pay you even if the expedition failed, did you?”
“I didn’t say that, ma’am,” poor Henry tried to defend himself.
“No, you didn’t. But your legs did when you jumped up so suddenly. Henry, do you know that, probably because of your great service to the government as weather man, the United States Navy has a war ship named after you?”