"Was that you shooting just now?" asked Tad.
Instead of answering the question, however, the guide called the boys to him.
"I'm going to teach you how to make beds in the mountains," he said. "We have not tried to make any like them yet——"
"Beds? I don't see any beds to make," objected Chunky. "Where are they?"
"Get your hatchets and I'll show you," grinned Lige. "We have to discover a good many things when we are roughing it, you know."
Fetching their hatchets from the saddle bags, the boys cut great armfuls of pine boughs, all hands making two trips to camp and back in order to carry enough for the purpose. But, even then, they were mystified as to exactly what Thomas intended to do or how he would go about it to make a bed out of the stuff they had gathered.
Professor Zepplin watched the preparations with interest, finding much that was new to him in the resourceful operations of the mountain guide.
Having heaped up a great pile of fragrant green stuff, Lige looked about him to fix upon the best locations for the beds he was about to make.
"Oh, I know," exclaimed Ned. "You are going to lay the stuff into piles so we can sleep on them."
"Not quite," grinned Lige. "Watch me."