Case Witters—he was never anything but “Case” to his friends—went to the door and looked out through the blurred glass, wiping the inside of the panel with his sleeve in order to get a clearer view.
“What’s coming off?” demanded Jule.
“I hope we’ll be able to get away on one trip without some one butting in,” suggested Case.
“Say, now, look at Teddy,” cried Jule, springing to his feet.
“Teddy” was a quarter-grown grizzly bear. He had been captured on the Columbia river, and had been a great pet of the boys ever since. He now rose from the rug which he had occupied in company with Captain Joe, the white bulldog, and shambled over to the door, against which he lifted a pair of capable paws in an effort to get a view of the deck.
“Rubberneck!” called Alex, digging the cub in the ribs.
“You know what you’ll come to if you talk slang!” Jule grinned. “You’ll have to wash dishes for a week. We all agreed to that, you know,” he added as Alex wrinkled a freckled nose and pointed to the bear cub still trying to look out.
“Why don’t you let him out?” he asked. “If the wind blows his hide off, we’ll make a rug of it. What is Clay doing?”
Case did not reply to the question. Instead, he opened the door, swinging it back with a bang, and both boy and bear ran out on deck. The first thing Teddy did was to sit up on his hind legs and box at the wind, which rumpled his fur and brought moisture to his little round eyes. Boxing was one of the accomplishments taught him by the boys, and he took great pride in it.
Alex closed the door and, with Jule at his side, stood looking out on deck. Clay, Case and the two pets stood at the prow, gazing down on the river.