“I sent him out on an errand,” answered Hippy. “Ah! The coffee is not so hot that it burns, but it’s nectar.”
“Oh, my darlin’! Your head!” cried Nora, just discovering the swelling there.
Elfreda was at his side in an instant, examining the lump that, to Hippy, seemed fully as big as his head itself. Miss Briggs ran to her tent for liniment, and in a moment was applying it to the sore spot.
Hippy’s story was brief, because there was little that he could tell them. He was amazed when he learned that he had been away so long.
Grace explained to him how White had reached some lookouts on the range and got them to go in search of him. “How they found you so soon, I don’t understand. Do you?”
Hippy shook his head.
“There are some things in this neck of the woods that are beyond explaining. I hope they didn’t give Stacy such a wallop as I got. But don’t worry about him. They can’t keep him long. Stacy will eat them out of his way. I was easy. He isn’t.”
Ham White returned at this juncture.
“We shall probably have another guest to-night, if all goes well,” he announced.
“A guest?” wondered the Overlanders.