“You come along and sit down while we look things over,” added Tom.
Grace and Elfreda ran on ahead and got out blankets from under the collapsed tents, which they spread on the ground and insisted that Lieutenant Wingate lie down.
“Why doesn’t some one start a fire?” demanded Hippy.
“With what?” jeered Chunky.
“The lean-to has been blown away,” cried Emma.
“I reckon it’s over by the Springs Hotel long before this,” declared Jim Badger.
“Never mind,” soothed Tom. “We will build another lean-to when we need it. Just now we must manage to start a fire and dry out.”
The guide was directed to gather fuel, which he did, shaking drops of water from twigs that he gathered. While he was doing this, Chunky began to sing. There was no harmony in his song, but he sawed away until he had sung several verses, unmindful of the jeers and threats of his companions.
The end of the song was greeted with shouts of laughter.
“Is that the way you show your appreciation of my efforts to make you forget your misery?” rebuked Stacy. “The trouble with you folks is that you have no harmony in your souls. I have.”