“Let’s stay here and see it out!” Alex interposed.
“That suits me!” Clay answered. “I haven’t lost confidence in Gran yet, and, besides, there’ll be excitement in it, if what you boys say about the men on the other side of the river is true—if they are really train robbers. I think it will be fun to see it out!”
And so it was agreed that they should follow the wishes of the boy and remain where they were for a time, although they all understood that the reason given by the lad—that the motion of the boat might affect his broken leg unfavorably—was not the true one. But another surprise awaited Clay when he went into the cabin to acquaint Gran of the decision which had been reached. The boy was half sitting up in his bunk with a flush on his cheeks which had not been there before.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said, as Clay entered. “I am beginning to think that my leg ought to have the care of a surgeon. You boys are all anxious to be on your way, and so why not drop down to Revelstoke? I can endure the short journey, all right, and we can remain there a few days until the surgeon has had time to straighten me out.”
“We have all agreed to remain here,” Clay said, with a smile, “but we can go on just as well as not. We need a glimpse at a town.”
“I don’t want to keep you here,” Gran went on. “When I spoke about staying here I didn’t think I would need the attention of a surgeon, but I begin to feel that one ought to be consulted.”
When Clay went out to the others with this new proposition they were more puzzled than ever.
“Why did he change his mind so suddenly?” was the question Alex asked. “There’s something back of all this. Do you think he heard us talking about the train robbers?”
“He might,” answered Clay, and there the subject was dropped.
That night, without mishap on the way, they tied up at Revelstoke, which is a small town where the Canadian Pacific takes to the valley of the Columbia river again. They did not succeed in finding a surgeon that night, the one located there being away, neither did they spend any time about town, for they thought it best to remain on the boat with the injured boy.