THE WIRELESS IN THE WILDERNESS
The sun had hardly touched with gold the tops of the mountains before Bob felt a light touch on his arm. He opened his eyes to see Mr. Waterman with his hands to his lips in token of silence. He arose quietly and with a surge of pride and joy in his heart, for he felt that he was to be permitted to go on the expedition in search of the thief.
"Bring along your sleeping bag," said Mr. Waterman, when Bob got out of the tent.
"Are we leaving right away?" asked Bob.
"Yes, just as soon as Jack can rustle a cup of coffee and something to eat for us. He'll be ready as soon as we can get our things in shape."
Bob hustled back to the tent and very quietly got his sleeping bag ready for travel. He made a neat pack of it and hurried over to the grub tent. Jack and Pierre were serving Mr. Waterman already so that Bob got a hasty breakfast. He enjoyed it, for there was an atmosphere of suppressed excitement that was altogether new to him. Ten minutes later they were getting into two canoes. When Bob reappeared with his pack and his gun, Mr. Waterman asked,
"What are you going to do with that gun?"
"I don't know," said Bob. "I saw that you all had guns and so I toted mine along."
"Now I know you're excited," said Mr. Waterman. "When a Southerner begins to talk about 'you all' and 'toting' things, he's just plain excited."
Bob just laughed quietly, for he knew that Mr. Waterman was right.