"Your kidlet is asleep, so he won't notice. Suppose you go back there and see what they are doing."
"I can see from here," said Porky with a slight shudder. "They are sort of boarding up a place to put the youngster's mother. They have no way of getting a casket or even a box for her."
"It will be fixed all right," said Beany. "The Captain does everything all right. He will fix it just as well as ever he can. I'd like to go over and see just what they are doing."
"Better not; you might wake the baby, and we don't want her to see her mother again."
"Well, anyhow, one thing is settled. The pair is ours," said Porky with a sigh.
"They are ours if we can have them," said his brother.
"You watch me!" said Porky grimly.
CHAPTER X
DECIDING DESTINIES
Tired of carrying the children about, the two boys sat down on a bench beside what had once been a large barn. The destructive fire started by the invaders had apparently been checked by a heavy rainfall as the half burned structures and charred timbers testified. There was still a chance to rebuild and save enough from the wreckage to enable the owners to start their lives afresh. But alas, of those owners but two were left—the two tiny, terrified, war-racked creatures in the arms of the two Boy Scouts. While their little charges slept, the boys continued their talk in a low tone. Their arms, unaccustomed to such burdens, were tired and stiff by the time one of the officers left the distant group and approached them.