“All we got was an order to get out of the camp pronto,” Mac answered.
“Almost got ordered off with a rifle,” Tim added, stooping down and warming his hands over the cook fire.
“What’s that?” Barry asked, sharply.
“Was it Wolf’s camp?” Kent inquired.
“No, it wasn’t. This is what happened.” Mac related the story, and the other two boys listened with interest and astonishment.
“Well, you certainly got a cool reception,” was Kent’s comment.
“Cool!” exploded Tim. “It almost froze us!”
Barry gazed off in the timber in the direction of the hostile camp. “That’s a mighty queer way for anyone to act when you just go and ask them to sell you coffee.”
“Yes, and they had coffee, too,” Mac avowed. “I saw the jar of it. Did you, Tim?”
His brother nodded. “As plain as day, right there beside the fire. But they acted as though we were poison.”