“Grub,” was the prompt answer.
“Well,” Professor Mertz continued, “all of you go back to the bunkhouse and get your sweaters, coats, blankets and hats—soft felts if you have them. I know that you want to travel light and think that because you are going to a fire you’ll be plenty warm but if you do happen to get a rest down there it will be cold. You may be gone a week and what little sleep you get you’ll want to be comfortable.”
When the boys came back Professor Mertz hauled out a bag of lemons and tossed one to each. “Here’s where we hand you each a lemon,” he said, “but most of you won’t know how big a one it is till you get home. Keep those till you need them. If you get dry when you can’t get to water try a suck. It’ll taste pretty good then.”
They all clambered into the two wagons—one of them had just arrived from the post office in response to a telephone call—and the expedition started.
The boys were in fine feather and sang lustily every song they could think of. For a long time after they had started, broken fragments of the songs floated back on the high wind. When they passed the Lodge they set up a mighty shout which made the few summer boarders who had ventured into the woods so early in the season, think that they were about to be the victims of an Indian massacre.
The thing which impressed all the boys most was the apparent lack of hurry. They were used to seeing the fire engines tear up the city streets at full speed and the slow plodding of the work horses seemed the height of foolishness. Merton took advantage of his position on the seat with Sturgis to inquire into the matter.
“Couldn’t we make better time walking?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” Sturgis answered, “you could make quicker time, but you’d better save yourself for work later on.”
At last there came an exultant shout from the boys. A long line of fire was visible on a ridge to the southward. The singing ceased and all was suppressed excitement which one moment expressed itself in silence, the next turned into a babel of wild speculations. The fire had appeared to be very close when they first sighted it, but as they mounted hill after hill and obtained new views it seemed to get no closer till a man suddenly appeared in the road to tell them that they had arrived.
The air was loaded with smoke which made the eyes smart uncomfortably but there was no other sign of the fire. The smoke intensified the darkness so that in spite of the breaking day an object could not be distinguished ten feet away. The boys piled out in the darkness eager for orders and were somewhat disappointed when Sturgis told them to build a fire and sleep if they could. “We’ll size up the fire and be back as soon as we can tell what to do.”