“That so? Well, hop along, Jake. We’ll talk this over with you and your brother in the morning.”
The words sounded ominous, but Jake was too tired to worry about what the morning would bring. He stumbled off toward Tent Ten, hardly aware of what he was doing; but as he left, he heard the Chief invite the two men into the lodge for a cup of coffee, and the three of them disappeared into the building talking together in confidential tones. Jake fell like a log upon his bunk, without taking off any of his stained garments; but Mr. Avery was awake, and soon tucked the worn-out boy between his blankets.
The next morning, after breakfast, the Utway twins stood outside the door of the Chief’s office with beating hearts. They had not been given any chance to speak to each other since their separate returns to camp late the previous night; and now that they were back in the familiar scenes of Lenape, their wild adventure seemed like a mad dream. How could they have run away from camp without thinking of the worry and trouble that this disobedient act would cause their leaders and the Chief?
Jerry knocked shakily upon the door. At the call of “Come in!” the two culprits entered the office and stood waiting for judgment.
They could not read the look on the Chief’s face as he stood regarding them quizzically. “We-ell!” he said slowly, and paused.
“We—we’re sorry, Chief!” blurted out Jerry. “We didn’t think about making a lot of trouble for you and our leaders. We just wanted to help—— But I guess it’s no use trying to tell how we felt about it.”
“Do you think you did right in leaving Lenape without telling anybody?”
Jerry shook his head miserably.
“What about you, Jake?”
“I’m sorry too, Chief. We thought we were helping Burk, but maybe we were wrong. When you put it up to us that way, it makes us feel as if we—we——”