Ralph was very much interested in the venture, and asked enough questions to give him all necessary information. Apparently he had taken a great fancy for this new method of “hunting with a camera,” and would possibly amuse himself frequently later on in securing various pictures that could not otherwise be obtained.
When they got back, somewhere around nine o’clock, Tubby “wanted to know,” as he usually did.
“How about that old bobcat, Ralph? Signs of him taking the bait you left out there for him?” he went on to inquire.
“We didn’t bother going to see,” he was told. “He’s got the whole night before him to come around. So I’m just living off hope until Pete makes his report in the morning. I’d hate to have my plans all knocked silly by the accidental coming of a pair of cats.”
“You’ve got to remember,” Rob warned him, “to set your alarm clock so you can wake up at three o’clock. You must be on hand before the first streak of dawn, because if the light strikes in before you get there the flashlight picture will be ruined.”
“Seems to me,” observed Tubby, thoughtfully, “there ought to be some little mechanical invention calculated to close the opening of a camera after just so many seconds have elapsed.”
“Perhaps there is,” Rob went on to say, “but if so I haven’t got the attachment on my camera. Better get up one yourself, Tubby; there would be money in it.”
“I’ll think it over,” the stout boy told them. “Sometimes I suspect that I might make something of a success as an inventor; but so far things I’ve tried to do just don’t seem to work a little bit. I even experimented on a flying machine that was going to beat all these common aeroplanes, and leave them at the stake. But I own up that it wouldn’t budge me off the ground.”
“Which I should say was the most fortunate thing that ever happened to you, Tubby,” chuckled Andy. “Falling overboard in the lake is bad enough, but then you can swim or float; but just think what would follow if that flying machine ever gave out while you were away up in the air. Some of the fellows used to call you Punkin once in a while, but believe me your name would be Squash then.”
Once again it was morning, after another pleasant experience in which the boys managed to secure enough sleep to make up for the loss of the preceding night.