"Would he lend Archie Brown the twenty pairs of snowshoes which that youth had seen stowed away there one day while he was holding a lengthy conversation with the old salt?"
Of course, the question wasn't put or repeated in just that language, but that was its full purport. Would he? Well, the genial sailor of the northern seas rubbed his stubbled chin for a moment, listened while Archie outlined in detail the purpose for which the shoes were desired, wrinkled his brow, shifted his "chaw" from the right cheek to the left, squinted out to where the foregathered flyers awaited his decision—and then he offered a sort of compromise. He would lend the shoes, providing he was permitted to lay out the course. No particular reason, of course. Oh, no! Just wanted to sort of have a hand in the thing, so to speak.
Well, he did. He had a hand in it, and, as it developed later, the others were in with both feet. But that's getting ahead too rapidly.
With the captain following more slowly, Archie raced across the field to inform the others of the condition under which the snowshoes had been loaned. In a jiffy they agreed that certainly they would grant an ancient mariner's small whim like that. Why not? Anyway, it was necessary, in order to get the shoes.
And so, when the erstwhile whaler joined the group, he immediately was informed by Dr. Vorhees that they waited upon him, as an honored and informed native, to indicate a foot-race course over which some eager young men, equipped with snowshoes, might, perhaps, encounter some difficulties to add zest to the friendly encounter.
"Seein's ye cain't hev the shoes 'nless ye meet thet condition, I'm not going to be perticerly het up about th' honor yer conferin'," answered the weather-beaten old salt callously. "But I thenk ye, nevertheless."
He stepped to the front of the group, so that they formed a semicircle about him.
"See thet old stump of a tree stickin' up out thar?" he asked, indicating with outstretched right arm the distant skeleton of what once had been a towering cedar.
"Yes," answered half a dozen, following the direction in which he pointed, almost due east.