Ted was in the lead and he quickened his steps, looking ahead into the darkness. There was a sound of scrambling and jumping which he could not understand and the spot looked curiously empty.
“Why, the tents are all down!” he exclaimed, running forward.
CHAPTER XIII
BUCK MAKES A DISCOVERY
The one lantern carried by Ted threw but a poor light over the scene of the camp but it was enough for the arriving boys to see that all of the tents were down, apparently blown over from the storm. The first two were down altogether, canvas and poles, while the last two consisted of flapping canvas on the poles. While they looked they were joined by the other boys, who came jumping and running from the truck, where they had taken a poor refuge during the storm.
“Oh, boy, I’m glad you are back!” exclaimed Plum, fervently, catching Ted by the sleeve.
“What happened here?” Ted asked.
“Why, the storm blew the tents down. We were all under the canvas and keeping pretty dry, except for some water which leaked in from the trenches, when all of a sudden there was a blow of wind and the tents were down. It even carried over the poles on two of the tents, or else we knocked them down getting out, I don’t know which. But we were soaked and tried to get in the truck and pull a piece of canvas over our heads, but it didn’t do us much good.”
Apparently, it had not. All of them were as wet as the five who had been trailing. With the tents down and all of them dripping they presented a sorry sight which even the flicker of the one lamp could not make up for. Looking backward, the evening did not seem to have been a success.
“Well, only one thing to do,” directed Buck, briskly. “Let’s locate our axes and hunt dry wood for a fire.”
“There isn’t any dry wood,” a boy objected.