“No it won’t.” Ted shook his head. “But it won’t do this camp site any good.” The ones who were about to depart were now ready and they stood around waiting for something. Ted sauntered over to Plum.
“Going to walk all the way home?” he asked, as his own friends gathered around.
“Sure! I guess we can do it, can’t we?”
“You can, of course. It is between thirty and forty miles, and the fellows you are taking with you aren’t used to any such hikes as that. You have planned to camp somewhere by the road, of course? You are going to buy food somewhere, too, aren’t you?”
“I’ll attend to that,” was the confident reply. “I have money and we can camp anywhere in a field. Don’t you worry, Thorn, I will manage. I don’t do things like you do.”
“No, you don’t,” agreed Ted, softly, his hands sunk in his pockets.
Plum turned to Ted’s tent, a frown on his face. “Come on, hurry up!” he cried, angrily, and to Ted’s surprise Tom Clayton appeared with his pack on. The little fellow did not look happy.
“What is the matter, Tom?” Ted asked. “Did you have a change of heart?”
“No, but Plum says I better come home,” replied the boy. “He says if I don’t he’ll tell my mother and she’ll come up here and take me home. I don’t like to leave you, but I don’t want my mother to worry.”
The careless look vanished at once from Ted’s face and his hands came out of his pockets. He squared his shoulders as he looked Plum in the face.