“Seems to me,” Cal responded, “that every member of this company is in the habit of carrying a digestive apparatus somewhere about his person. That’s all.”
“Right, Cal!” Larry broke in. “We must have breakfast and dinner, and I think I remember hearing that experienced navigator, Richard Wentworth, say, once upon a time, that one should never venture upon salt water without carrying a supply of provisions along.”
“I humbly submit to the rebuke,” answered Dick, with a laugh. “It was forgetfulness, but forgetfulness is never quite pardonable. Some one must go for game immediately after breakfast. We have enough on hand for that meal.”
“I delegate you to that task, Tom,” said Larry. “Your habit of finding things may hasten the job.”
| ✶ | ✶ | ✶ | ✶ | ✶ | ✶ |
It was a little past noon when the company pushed away from Quasi on the rude raft that served them for a ship, and were driven by the strong flood tide through the maze of broad and narrow passages among the marsh islands that lay between them and the town on the mainland.
There was some discussion before they left Quasi as to what they should do with the rifle and other things in Dunbar’s log lockup.
Larry settled the matter, saying:
“We’ll leave his belongings just where he placed them. We are not likely to find him now, and—”
“And if he finds himself,” Tom broke in, “he’ll come to Quasi after them. Wonder where the poor fellow is, anyhow, and what’s the matter with him.”