“Just say what’s fetched us up here, and that you’re going to leave the paper he’s to sign. Then he can see that it gets back safe, in case anything should happen to keep us from returning here.”
Tubby winced when he heard those words, they seemed so suggestive of some unknown peril threatening them. He kept on asking questions.
“I’d better say something about where we’ve gone, and why, hadn’t I, Rob?”
“Yes, just as little as you can; and now get busy. We’ll be ready to leave here in less than thirty shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
So Tubby started in. He may never have taken the prize for rapidity in penmanship and composition at school, for he was slow in everything he undertook, save eating. Spurred on by necessity which knows no law, he wrote hurriedly, telling in as few words as he could the “gist” of what was required. If any of the teachers in Hampton High could have watched Tubby as he sat there, with his tongue-tip between his teeth and a look of grim determination on his ruddy countenance, and witnessed how his pencil glided rapidly across the paper, they would have certainly believed the world was coming to an end, or at least that wonders never ceased, for Tubby could no longer be called “as slow as molasses in winter” or possessed of the characteristics of the creeping snail.
“There, that’s done!” said the writer finally, with a sigh of relief. “I’ve made a bully good job of it, too, Rob—saying just enough without any superfluous language. I hope Uncle George doesn’t destroy this message. I think it’s a real gem, and as good as anything I ever did. I’d like to preserve it.”
“Well, we’re about ready,” said Rob quickly. “Andy’s got a snack of food to take along, so we may be prepared for emergencies.”
“Oh, I hope now you don’t dream that we’ll get lost and wander all around in a dense Canadian bush for days!” exclaimed the alarmed Tubby.
“Not at all, with two such clever guides along,” Rob told him. “You know preparedness is one of the cardinal virtues of every true scout. I never knew the time when some fellows would refuse to take a bite, especially after some hours of rough tramping.”
They also saw to it that plenty of food was placed where the dog could secure it, for it was utterly out of the question for them to think of letting the animal accompany them. He might, by some inadvertent act, betray them at a time when it would mean unnecessary risk and trouble.