“And Paul,” continued Bluff, “will you accept one of these fat birds from us?”
“Not much I will!” declared the other immediately. “Why should I be favored over the rest 217 of the crowd? You and Sandy earned the right to enjoy a feast, and we’ll see to it that you have it to-morrow. Let them hang until then; game is always better for lying a few days before being eaten, you know.”
Of course, those who had remained at home were curious to know whether the rescue expedition had been successful or not.
“We needn’t ask if you found Hank and his crowd,” declared Spider Sexton, wisely, “for as scouts we are educated to observe things, and first of all we notice that none of you has come back with the pack he took away. That tells us the story. But please go on and give the particulars, Paul.”
“We managed to find them just when they had their last stick on the fire,” the scout-master commenced to relate. “We had to dig a way in to them, for there was an enormous drift banked up against their exit that they hadn’t even begun to cut through.”
“How lucky you got there on time!” cried Frank Savage. “Once more scouts have proved themselves masters of circumstances. Bully for Stanhope Troop! I bet you they were glad to see you! Yes, and like as not told you they were sorry for ever having done anything to annoy our crowd.” 218
“You’ve hit it to a dot, Frank,” admitted Jud. “Hank shows some signs of meaning to turn over a new leaf, and Paul even believes there’s a hope; but somehow the rest of us reckon its the old story over again. Once they get on their own stamping grounds, by degrees they’ll forget all we’ve done for them, and be back at their old tricks again. What’s bred in the bone can’t easily be beaten out of the flesh, my father says.”
“But it does happen once in a while,” admonished Paul; “so we’ll drop the subject for the present. If Hank starts in to do the right thing, though, remember that it’s our duty as scouts to give him all the help we can. And now let’s settle on the menu for supper, because we’re all of us as hungry as wolves.”
While some of the boys were busying themselves around the fire, Paul took a look at the slight injuries of the two aspiring hunters, and complimented the pleased Philip on the clever way he had attended to their necessities.