Clay rather suspected that the old captain was too apprehensive of evil from the wreckers, or accidents from the storm, to go to bed, but he let him have his way, and the hardy old fellow seemed as bright and active as ever in the morning. He even declined to go to the cabin for rest when the boys insisted that he ought to do so.
“We’ll get rest enough when we get down to the west river,” the captain smiled. “I can sleep in the woods.”
“That’s just where we won’t get any rest,” Jule urged.
“Huh,” murmured Alex. “That’s where I get my rest! The natives were so afraid that I’d tire myself walking around that they trussed me up like a hen. I’d just like to get a hold of some of those outlaws. They’re the limit—the worst I ever encountered.”
“What did they do to you?” asked Captain Joe.
“Do to me?” repeated Alex. “Why, they had a stew, or a boiled dinner, or something, cooking in a tin pail over a fire, and they wouldn’t give me a thing to eat. And that is the height of meanness!”
As if repenting of the violence of the day before, and trying to make restitution for the many blows at the sad old world, the weather that morning was all that could have been desired. The air was clear and sweet after its bath of rain, and the leaves of the forest sparkled and rustled like jewels as the sun shone upon their moist surfaces.
The boys made good time that day, although they did not feel inclined to hurry. Alex took the canoe out in the forenoon and caught half a dozen fish which he cleaned for dinner. The boy wanted to go ashore and prepare the dinner a la Indian again, but the others insisted that they really wanted a fish dinner, so the catch was baked in the oven of the coal stove. The boys claim to this day that Alex consumed half of the fish that he caught, but of course Alex disputes this.
At sundown they anchored the Rambler within four or five miles of the west river, in a little bay which ran into the mainland almost behind the westward extension of Cartier island.
No lights were shown on the boat, supper having been prepared in the dark, and the boys sat along the deck fighting mosquitoes and listening to the calls of the wild creatures in the woods.