“Guess I’ll chuck a few pieces of wood on the fire,” he said to himself. His mind formed clear sentences before him, describing his every movement, as is often the case of one who finds himself the victim of insomnia. As the boy made his way carefully from between the sleeping forms lying near, he murmured:
“Easy, now—mustn’t wake the others. Golly, it’s dark—cold, too! Glad the fire’s not out. I’m hungry. Listen to those horses whinny! Why don’t they go to sleep? I wonder where Gus is to-night? Funny how we came across The Pup’s horse and not The Pup. Here’s a stick that’ll do fine.” He threw it on the fire. “There, that’s better. Warmer! That Pop snoring? Must be. Sounds like a saw mill. Funny old geezer, Pop. Wish I could sleep like that.”
Small, unconnected thoughts kept buzzing through his brain. He walked around the fire, then seated himself near it, his knees drawn up, his chin resting on his hands. His dream came back to him, and he recalled that he had awakened with his own name ringing in his ears.
“Sure sounded as though some one was calling me,” he muttered, kicking a piece of wood further in to the heart of the flames. “Wonder what time it is? Must be after midnight. Snakes, there’s not a star out!”
He raised his head and stared vacantly up into the blackness. For a long moment he stayed in this position, then closed his eyes. He came to himself with a start.
“Well!” and he grinned. “Almost went to sleep sitting up. Guess I’ll seek my downy bed once more.”
He arose, and stretched. He stood there, his arms outstretched, staring at a dark form looming up on the opposite side of the fire—a strange, staggering form.
Teddy’s right hand leaped down to his belt and closed over the butt of his gun. But he did not draw, for at that moment the form of a man pitched headlong at his feet and lay still!
CHAPTER XXIII
Boss and Bandit
Teddy, hand resting on the gun, eyes wide, stared at the prostrate intruder. Something about the man seemed familiar. As he lay there, his arms thrown wide, head turned to one side, he appeared to have been dropped from a great height and pressed into the earth from the force of descent. The fingers weakly opened and closed, but aside from that the figure was motionless, silent.