“What?”
“Breakfast?”
“Is it far?”
“Is it cooked?”
The boys fairly danced about their new acquaintance as they asked questions and rubbed their stomachs significantly.
“All cooked and all ready, plenty of it,” was the reply.
“Where is the camp?” asked Peter, then.
“Oh, just a short distance from the Culebra cut,” was the reply. “Dad came out here some weeks ago with me and one servant, and we’re living in a tent all fixed up with screens and things. The jaguars aroused us early this morning, so we got up to shoot them.”
“Is your father workin’ for the Canal people?” asked Jimmie.
“Oh, no,” was the reply. “He takes a great interest in the Culebra cut, and spends a good deal of time out there, but he is not working for the government. He’s just loafing, and I’m having the time of my life.”