As two of the boys would be on guard at a time, taking turns in two hour stretches, while the others would be in the bunks at the same period, there were blankets enough to keep them warm, especially as they were under shelter, rude as it was.
"But if we had to sleep out in the open, we would have made a lean-to, or a wickiup, near a camp fire, and that would have kept us warm," said Chot.
"What's a lean-to and a wickiup?" asked Rick.
"A lean-to," explained the Scout Master, "is just some tree branches laid with one end raised over a pole, like the half of a letter V turned upside down. If you build a fire in front of it you can keep pretty warm. A wickiup is just some branches of low bushes or small trees bent in toward the center, and there fastened together, or you can throw a heavy blanket over them. They are both pretty poor shelters, but they're better than nothing."
And so, after the supper detail had been cleared, and the bunks made, the boys and the Scout Master sat about the fire on the hearth, talking. The heat felt comfortable, for the night was growing colder.
"Do you think we'll find Ruddy?" asked Rick more than once.
"I think so," answered Mr. Taylor. "If that junk man doesn't come back after his wagon and horse we'll go looking, in the morning, for the old house in the swamp."
The junk man's horse had been brought around from in back, and tied near the front of the cabin.
"We can tell the moment he comes after him, if the animal is left here," said the Scout Master. "And he can't move his wagon, even in the dark, without us hearing him."
"The bells will jingle," said Tom. For the junk man, like many of his kind, had a string of jangling cowbells fastened to his wagon.