"Oh! don't bother about such a little thing as that," Merritt told him, with a snort of scorn. "What sort of scouts would we be if we couldn't fix up some sort of shelter against rain? And even if we didn't, none of us are made of salt, are we? Anyway, I don't believe it rains much down there around Chihuahua, because a heap of the territory is only desert; and it wouldn't be that if it had showers, you understand."
By degrees they settled upon what they should take along. Tubby was for loading himself down with such a raft of stuff,—all of which might come in very handy, but could never be carried without breaking the back of his horse,—that Rob finally made out a slip for him, and insisted that he should not pack up more than those essential things contained on the paper.
"I'm going to take my fountain pen along, anyhow," grumbled Tubby, as though determined to carry some article that was not on the list. "And I bet, Rob, you'll be wanting to borrow it at every city where we stop for ten minutes, to address post cards to somebody in Hampton, like you did the time we went to Panama."
Of course that sly allusion caused a laugh on the part of Merritt and Andy, while Rob turned a bit red in the face.
"Oh! have your fun if you want to, fellows," the patrol leader said, as though he were proof against their prodding. "I acknowledge that I did send a few cards to Lucy Mainwaring that time; yes, and I calculate to do the same again. Just think up some nice girl, each of you, and invest a few dimes that way yourself. It's lots of fun looking them over afterward, when she's got them so neatly pasted in her post card album."
"Well," Merritt proposed, "now that we know what's what, hadn't we better scatter and get busy? There's an awful lot to be done between now and night, looking over our clothes, having this fixed, or that button sewed on. Suppose we get together after supper and report progress. How would my house do?"
"I'll be on deck, never fear," Tubby announced promptly.
"Look for me about half-past seven, Merritt," Andy told him.
"Sorry, fellows," Rob put in, with a shrug of his shoulders and a whimsical smile on his face; "I'll have to plead a previous engagement."
"Oh! sure you do," jeered Andy; "and it'd be a shame to ask you to break it for such a little thing as this. But the rest of us'll be around, Merritt. No need of worrying about Rob, anyhow, because we know he'll have everything in ship-shape style long before our train leaves."