“I’ll bet you he can fix the aeroplane if he made it. That’ll be our chance. We’ll chip in and pay for what he needs. Mebbe we can get a ride in it.”
“Mebbe he’ll teach us to fly it ourselves,” ventured Colly Craighead.
From airships, the talk under the big maple tree in the Conyers yard ran to the suspended Boy Scout program. As the possibilities of this were expounded by Connie, every one came forward with suggestions as to the first outing. Lew Ashwood proposed the thing that met general approval: a hike to Round Rock River and an exploration of the abandoned quarry.
“It’s five miles to the river,” explained Lew. “We can start at five o’clock in the morning, when it’s cool, and each fellow can carry grub in his knapsack, only we’ll each take something different so’s we can cook up a big breakfast when we get to the river. I’ll take enough frankfurters for everyone, about four or five pounds. The rest of you’ll have to take bread an’ eggs an’ tea—”
“How about lunch an’ supper?” piped up Sammy Addington.
“An’ some’ll have to take ham an’ things for lunch,” went on Lew. “We’ll get supper when we get home.”
“You can get dinner at the farmer’s out there,” suggested Connie. “He gets it for fishermen if they telephone to him.”
“What!” exclaimed Art. “Boy Scouts eatin’ a bought meal on a table in a house? We might as well stay at home.”
“Sure,” shouted a boy. “We want to camp out and cook on our own fire. We got to have bacon too so’s if we don’t catch any fish.”
“That’s right,” agreed Art. “We ought to take some fishin’ tackle. Round Rock’s great for bass. If anything happened to our provisions we ought to catch some fish to keep from starvin’.”