“That’s enough, Brick,” the man said shortly. “Now, Van Horn, if you can walk all right, we’ll go back to the tent. I understand you’ve been assigned to my outfit. Well, first off, if you’ve got any more guns, they’re going to be locked up with this one. We can’t have bullets flying about. Come along—I’ll show you where camp is. After swim, we’ll see about clearing up that mess of stuff you left on the floor.”
He led the way back toward the campus, bearing the forbidden weapon, followed by the crestfallen Dirk. Brick Ryan began cautiously picking a path through the underbrush—a swimming suit was not the best uniform for mountain rescue-work. He chuckled. “Lost, he was! And Sax and I thought we were goin’ to pull somebody out of trouble!”
The bushes ahead crackled as somebody ran through, and Brick paused. The face of his friend Kipper Dabney appeared from behind a tree.
“What’s all the shootin’, Brick?”
Brick answered the question with a laugh. “You may think you’ve seen greenhorns at Lenape, Kipper,” he said, “but I want to tell you we’ve got the juiciest tenderfoot in Tent One that you ever saw. He’s a lily, he is! There he goes—Sax McNulty just grabbed his gun in time to keep him from shootin’ us for a couple of moose.”
Kipper was interested. “You sound as if you figured on doing something about it.”
“Maybe I will,” smiled Brick wickedly. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I might show him a few handy tricks. He sure needs a workout!” He lowered his voice. “About twelve o’clock tonight, eh? What about it, my boy? Are you game?”
“You mean—pass him the runaround?” the other asked doubtfully. “He looks like a pretty husky fellow. He might go for us.”
“Not a chance! But if you’re nervous, we’ll get Ugly Brown to come too. This baby is easy. Is it a go? Swell! Now let’s get down to the dock—that guy and his fool stunts have made me miss half my swim!”
Dirk Van Horn did not fall asleep until some while after taps had sounded bedtime for the Lenape campers, and their big bonfire had died down to embers. He had gone through one of the liveliest days he had ever known, but although weary, he was too wakeful to join his tent-mates in their slumbers. He lay stretched on his bunk, staring up at the dim, quiet stars glowing above the sighing branches of the pines, and recalling the events of the crowded day.