“To-morrow morning I have to make a trip up-river a short distance with the Rocket, and you fellows can be gathering together all the things that we need and checking over the list. Lanky, suppose you act as secretary to this expedition, and make out the list and see that every fellow has his part.” Frank Allen was strictly the leader, the one who thought things out, and so it held in this case.
It was just after breakfast the next morning that Frank went to Minnie Cuthbert’s home and asked her to go on the trip up the river with him.
“Just a little trip on an errand for dad. He says he would rather I would go than any one else, and I want to try out the Rocket before we start to the camp,” he said as he invited her to join him.
Minnie accepted at once, and donned a heavy coat and close-fitting hat, looking bright, lithe and active, as she skipped down the steps to come alongside Frank for a brisk walk to the wharf.
“I have a package I want you to take with you to your camp,” Minnie said to Frank when the Rocket was well under way.
Curious, naturally so, Frank asked what the package contained, but Minnie refused to divulge the proposed contents.
They fell to chatting gaily over the various little happenings of “the crowd,” as the motor boat, under medium speed, facing into a brisk, chilly wind, glided easily through the water.
“Have you heard anything more from that big brute whose dog you killed?” she suddenly asked, changing the trend of the conversation.
Frank told her he had heard nothing.
“But you’re going to hear from him, Frank,” she went on. “He had a mean look in his eye that day. I heard father say something last night that didn’t sound good. He said that Jeek was a dangerous character and that the only reason he was not in jail was that others were afraid to tell the truth about him.”