“Well if this isn’t—” began the tramp more excited than before. “I must—no I must not. Pray excuse me,” he went on, with an assumption of his former grand air, “I must not refer to that. It escaped me before I was aware of it. Pay no attention to what I said. I was going to tell you something, but the time is not yet ripe. Now let’s fall to, for I’m still imitating the bear in the predilection of my appetite,” and he attacked the food with every evidence that he was speaking the truth.
The boys looked at each other in surprise. Ned, in particular, wondered what the tramp meant by starting as if he intended to tell some secret and then stopping. Seeing that their guest was not observing him, Jerry made a gesture that indicated the tramp might not be altogether right in his head. In this view Bob and Ned coincided.
They were not alarmed, however, as the man did not seem to be dangerous. He was too busy eating to talk, and the boys soon forgot their curiosity in making away with the food, for the trip across the lake had given them all appetites.
It was arranged that the tramp should sleep in the shelter tent, while the boys made use of the bunks on board the boat. It was nearly midnight before they turned in, and the motor boys, at least, slept soundly until morning.
As for the tramp he may have rested well, but at any rate he was not a late sleeper, for, when the boys crawled out of their comfortable beds for a plunge into the lake they found he had built a fire on shore and was boiling their tea kettle over it.
“That’s very good of you, but you needn’t have gone to that trouble,” said Jerry. “We have a gasolene stove.”
“Tut, tut!” exclaimed the ragged man. “Water for coffee should always be boiled over an open fire. It has more flavor.”
Thinking this was only one of the tramp’s odd conceits the boys did not argue further with him. They took their bath, their odd guest meanwhile making coffee.
“If you’ll tell me where the bacon and other things are I’ll finish getting this meal,” he called to them where they were splashing in the lake.