BOB PRACTISED HURLING THE KNIFE AT THE BACK FENCE.
This brought a quick remonstrance from the unsympathetic neighbor, and Bob's activities were suddenly cut short.
"Never mind," said Sammy, when the boys were discussing the obstacles their families put in their way. "Let's get to work practising calls and signals. We ought to get the call of the cuckoo and the whip-poor-will down fine. Then if any one of us should be captured by outlaws the others could creep up at night and tell him by the calls that help was near."
This seemed reasonable and had the further advantage that here at least their families were not likely to interfere. They practised until they were hoarse, and if their relatives surmised the meaning of the unearthly noises they smiled wisely and said nothing.
While the boys were thus getting ready for their trip their parents had been as busy as beavers in a more practical way. The trunks were packed and tickets bought and by Wednesday night in the week following their return from Lighthouse Cove everything was ready for the start. On the following morning they were to take the local train which would connect at the Junction with the flyer for Chicago, and their long journey two-thirds of the way across the continent would have begun.
George Haven, as the oldest, was to be in general charge of the party, and many were the injunctions showered upon him by the anxious parents. Each one of the young travelers came in too for a lot of advice from his parents. The fathers clapped them on the shoulders and told them to behave themselves and be careful. The mothers hugged and kissed them and gave last words of advice.
The boys felt a little tightening at their throats when they came to say good-bye to father and mother and clamber on the train. They thrust their heads out of the window and waved their hands and handkerchiefs to the loving faces that looked after them as long as the train was in sight. Then they sank back in their seats and looked at each other.
At last the Fairview boys were off for the ranch!