THE THINGS THAT MAKE BOYS MANLY.
Mr. Garrabrant laid his plans during the night, and when morning came he announced them to his boys.
"I shall take these two men down to Rockaway to-day," he said, "and deliver them over to the authorities. Ginger will accompany me, and between us we can pull the boat up the current again, starting possibly in the morning. If we arrive there in good time, I may get a car and drive over to Hickory Ridge, for there are several things I ought to see about, that slipped my mind before."
"And if you happen to see anybody who asks about us, sir, just tell them we're getting along dandy," declared Lil Artha.
"So say we all of us," sang out several others of the scouts.
"Tell my folks they were poor prophets," remarked Jasper Merriweather.
"In what way, my boy?" inquired the scout master; though, truth to tell, he could give a pretty good guess.
"Oh! ma, she said she'd give me one night to stay away; and pa, he told her that two would see my finish. But here we're going on our first week, and I'm feeling just fine. Not a bit homesick, tell 'em, Mr. Garrabrant, please. And bound to stay the whole ten days, or bust."
"Good for you, Jasper, old top!" laughed Lil Artha, patting the real tenderfoot encouragingly on the back.
"And Mr. Garrabrant," put in Ty Collins, who was a pretty good "feeder" as some of the other boys often remarked, "don't you think you might pick up a little more grub while you have the chance. You see, we didn't count on so many mouths to feed while we were up here, and the way that stuff is disappearing is sure a caution. I know, because I do a lot of the cooking, you see, sir."