toddle along the best way he can, while the rest of you are having all the fun.”
“Oh! I wouldn’t worry about that, if I were you, Billie,” Adrian told him; “for you’ll find that Jupiter is as fresh as a daisy by now, and able to carry you right along hour after hour. I’m ready to pin my faith to these cow ponies every time. They’re wonders, that’s what.”
“Yes,” added Donald, who did not like to see the good-natured fat chum worried in any way; “and as we agreed before, since the cattle were already blowing hard when they passed here, chances are they’ll come to a halt before many miles; so after all we won’t have to go so very far.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” mumbled Billie, who was not feeling very much like taking a lengthy gallop, after his late experiences in that line; the saddle chafed him more or less, because of his heft, and he suffered to a greater extent than either of his comrades knew about.
They were hastily getting their things packed. This was not so much of a job to fellows who had done such things a long time. The blankets made a small roll, to be fastened behind their saddles; then the few cooking things were distributed around, each one being responsible for a certain utensil, which he was expected to produce when next it was needed. In this way coffee-pot, frying-pan, tin
platters and tin cups were stowed away, and occupied very little space.
Each boy had a small bag in which he kept a few extras, a fresh flannel shirt and necessities. Billie also lugged along some other things in the way of a jar of marmalade, of which he was especially fond, a strip of breakfast bacon, tea, coffee, and such things. He would not let his chums think of loading themselves down with anything that poor Jupiter could carry on his broad back; and so when he was fully fixed for riding he looked like a nomadic peddler starting out on his trip.
But Billie at least had long ago learned the art of packing his stuff securely. Only for that fact he must surely have left a lot of his packages scattered along the trail at the time Jupiter ran away with him, after the stable boy at the inn had played that mean trick with the poison-tipped sand spurs.
Of course he was only partly packed when both the others announced themselves as ready to move.
“But I hope now, you won’t think of starting out, and leaving me behind, fellows?” Billie voiced his new alarm by saying.