"Really believe I am 'somewhat fatigued,' myself," chirped Paul, a few minutes later, gay and lively to the very last. For scarcely had he added: "Gee! This is a downy couch!—Down about a foot too far!" than he dropped off sound asleep on his blanket spread over the grass.
Billy and Phil were not long in following the example of the other two and presently the only sound to break the silence was the tinkle of bells where some sheep were feeding in a pasture across the little stream.
Tired humanity finds rest and comfort even on the bare ground when more conventional beds are not obtainable. Yet Dave was right. Another night, when a permanent camp had been established, might easily show a marked improvement in the lads' situation. Not but that all four were happy and contented just as they were! Any one of them would have asserted emphatically that he was having a fine time. But—confidentially—a nice dreamy nap on the soft grass beneath some tree on a warm afternoon is one thing, and sleeping all night on the ground is another. Even the Auto Boys, in strictest confidence, mind you, would have admitted it.
Time was that, when sleeping out, whether in the open as on this occasion, or in the hillside hut of Gleason's Ravine, the boys found themselves subject to a certain degree of nervousness. The distant shriek of a locomotive whistle on the still night air might cause any or all of them to start into partial or complete wakefulness, uncertain whether the sound was not a human voice. The heavy barking of a dog far away, yet in the silence and the darkness seeming very close, was apt to produce a similar effect. The certain conviction that the sounds came nearer, being directed, indeed, straight toward the camp, easily impressed itself upon high-strung imaginations.
A considerable variety of experience of this character is common to most camping parties whose members have seldom slept with no roof but the sky, or none but a bit of canvas, at the most. It would not do to say they are caused by timidity. But rather they are the result of surroundings wholly unlike those to which body and mind have been accustomed.
But there are delights in sleeping out of doors which those who have never experienced them can scarcely imagine. Even though the couch be "downy" after the manner Paul Jones described, there are compensations. Of course there must be sufficient covering to keep one warm, and a roof of some kind when it rains. With these provided, soft mattresses may well be dispensed with. The company of the stars, the good, fresh air, the music of the breeze in the branches above—these and much more will be bountiful recompense.
Every one of the Auto Boys would have endorsed these remarks and with enthusiasm, I am sure. Dave may have wished for a bed in an established camp rather than the one he had on the bare ground. They would all have voted for that. A pillow, even though made of a blanket-end spread over fresh pine twigs or clean, freshly gathered grass, beats an automobile cushion as a head-rest. This no one would deny. And if the established camp means one thing, and the roadside resting place the other, it is very well to choose the former.
The degree of comfort is the only question. The delights of out-of-doors exist as certainly one way as another. Thus, for instance, in either situation, are the stars, whether they look down in the tranquillity of a calm, still night, or through broken, storm-tossed clouds, most excellent and interesting company.
Now the whole purpose of this digression from the story is to make clear the reason back of the simple statement that the Auto Boys slept soundly. Notwithstanding their strange surroundings and their lack of a permanent camp's greater comforts, they passed the night in unbroken rest. If they awakened at any time it was merely to turn over and fall asleep again. If in the interim they noted, drowsily, the stars still bright, the sky still clear and the promise of fine weather to-morrow, it was merely this and nothing more. The apprehensions that at one time would have come to them that possibly danger lurked in the deeper shadows they rarely if ever experienced now.
And let no one suppose it is not something of a trial to desert one's snug resting place upon the ground in the morning, quite as much as it is to leave a soft, warm bed indoors. The temptation to indulge in just one more little snooze of five minutes, ten minutes or whatever time one thinks he might possibly allow himself, is quite the same. Complete wakefulness and ambition return more quickly in the open air and buoyancy of spirit is usually greater—that is all.