“Wha—at are you going to do?” stammered the boy.
“We three are going paddling, my beloved nephew,” answered Lieutenant Wingate.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” whispered Grace as the three were about to depart, Stacy going reluctantly, but not daring to offer further objections.
“Give me that paddle,” ordered Hippy when they had reached a point well out of sight of the camp. “Stacy Brown, you have done about the most unforgivable thing that a boy could do. You led us to believe that you had been drowned; you have caused us much mental anguish, and it is no more than right that we ‘transmigrate’ a little of it to you. Lie down on your stomach!”
“I don’t want to. Wha—at are you going to do?”
“I am going to paddle you, young man. Tom, how many do you think would be about right?”
“I should say that a paddle, one paddle, for each member of the Overland party would be about right,” suggested Tom Gray. “There are six of us.”
A moment more and Hippy Wingate was delivering the punishment, not too hard, but just enough so as to make his plump nephew writhe.
“Six! There!” announced Hippy.
“You forgot to give him one for Woo Smith,” suggested Tom.