“You didn’t do much sleeping, did you?” inquired Buck.
“No. But how about the light? Was somebody walking around the camp last night?”
Ted and Buck exchanged glances. They were annoyed that Plum had brought up the subject but they saw that he was not to be denied. Ted took it upon himself to answer.
“We think somebody did pass the tents,” he was forced to admit. “Perhaps it was some farmer who took a shortcut or something, because we didn’t find him. That is all there was to it.”
But Plum had ideas of his own. “But you two were worried, weren’t you?” he pressed. “I heard you talking and then Buck got his flashlight and you went exploring. How about it?”
“Do we look very much worried over anything?” Buck grinned, secretly angry with the insistent one.
“You were last night,” said Plum doggedly.
They turned the conversation and the meal was soon over, but the boys talked of the unknown prowler more than Ted and Buck cared to have them talk. There was one good remedy for their fears, however, and that was tried. Hard work soon made them forget about the previous night. Squads were told off and the labors of the day were begun. A group spent a few hours cutting and piling fire wood and others washed the dishes. One group under Buck went to work in deadly earnest on the tents. The bedding was all strung on lines to air and the boys were taught that cleanliness is as important in camping life as in private life. The beds were all more carefully remade and then ditches were dug around the tents so that the water from a rain storm would run away from the tents and not come in over the canvas floors. All these tasks took up most of the day and late in the afternoon all of them went swimming.
The two leaders found that few of the boys could swim well and some could not swim a stroke, so they organized a swimming class at once and the next two hours were spent in giving instructions. Some of the boys were timid and clearly afraid of the cold water, but Buck and Ted patiently taught them, stressing the value of a thorough knowledge of swimming. The small boy was very much afraid and shivered pronouncedly, but he kept his lips tightly closed and made a valiant effort at it.
In this way another day wore to its close and while they were eating supper the darkness folded down over the camp. But by this time they had become used to the “feel” of camp life and the location became somewhat familiar to them. Now that the hardest part of pitching the camp was attended to they began to plan more than one tramp through the mountains which encircled them.