Stacy was the only member of the Overland party who cared to eat when they reached the lunch station. Some of the girls took tea, but merely sipped it as they watched the fat boy eat a hearty meal.
Camp was made that night near the station, and on the following morning they rode away over the Government road around the shore of the West Arm, after which they were to make a detour to reach the lake again at Bridge Bay. From there it was but a short journey to the Lake Hotel.
“Jim, when do the stages come through?” called Lieutenant Wingate after the outfit had gotten well under way.
“We’ll meet one to-day,” replied the guide. “Others will be along to-morrow, and the day after, too, I reckon, but we may not see any after we git past the Lake Hotel, ’cause we might strike off from the trail there. I haven’t decided ’bout that yet.”
“The rougher they come the better we like it,” chuckled Hippy.
“May we catch fish where we’re going?” asked Stacy eagerly. “Cook and catch fish?”
“You mean catch and cook, don’t you?” reminded Nora.
“Either way so long as we get the fish inside of us,” averred Stacy. “I don’t care whether you cook them before you catch them, or catch them before you cook them, or whether you eat them before doing either. It’s the fish, not the—”
“Do you know,” interjected Emma, “I don’t believe there is anything in the brain-food theory?”
The Overlanders saw the point and laughed heartily, and Stacy regarded Emma narrowly. They did not stop at the Lake Hotel, but continued on and camped near the base of Elephant Back Mountain.