They were now in a very thick woodland, crowning a gently declining hillside, and, after gathering their properties together, they marched forward for an hour, descended another bluff, and decided to encamp there for the night. The distance to the foot of the mountain was now comparatively small, but the surface was badly broken and precipitous, and as darkness was not far off, it was deemed better to wait until morning before completing the journey.
On the way through the woodlands, the Doctor had surprised and shot a turkey, and it must of course be roasted, so the first thing to do was to cut some wood and build a fire. For that a spot was selected just under a slate rock bank that formed a cliff near where they had decided to camp. The water which oozed out at the bottom of this slate rock bank on its western border, and formed a convenient pool there, did not prove to be good. It tasted of various minerals, iron and sulphur among them, and was distinctly unpalatable. Fortunately, Jim discovered a spring at a little distance, however, which was found to be good. Springs were everywhere on this steep face of the mountain, bearing to the surface the water from the snows that fell in the higher lands above, sank into the ground, and percolating through rock fissures, found its way to daylight again wherever a crack or seam in the rock permitted.
So the coffee pot was soon ready for the fire where the turkey was already roasting, and by the time that night fell, the supper of roast turkey, hot biscuit and steaming coffee, was ready, and the weary boys were looking rather eagerly forward to the time when the meal should be so far past as to permit them to lie down again to sleep.
As they ate they chatted, of course. The home-going had begun, and indeed its most serious difficulties had already been overcome. Their enthusiasm was again aroused and they again felt interest in whatever subject might come up for discussion. But first of all, they made Jack figure up their winter's earnings—exclusive, of course, of Tom's skins—and they were very well satisfied indeed with the results of his figuring. Their outfit in the autumn had cost them very little, and since then they had been at no expense whatever except that they owed the Doctor their several small shares of the money he had given to Bill Jones and of the two dollars he had advanced to Tom for the purchase of meal on the mountain; for, of course, they all insisted upon sharing that expense, and Tom had no reasonable ground for refusing.
An hour after supper all lay down to sleep, after replenishing the fire under the slate rock bank, for there was no danger from moonshiners down here so near the foot of the mountain.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Old King Coal
It was nearly morning when the boys, wrapped in their blankets, began to stir uneasily and kick at their coverings. Every one of them was oppressed with heat, but for a time, weary as they were, they did not fully come to a consciousness of what it was that disturbed them.
After awhile Jim sat up, stripping off his blanket and giving vent to his feeling in the half word, half whistle, "Whew!" He looked about him for an instant, and then hastily jumping up, called to his half-awake companions: