And he was as good as his word. The sleeper stirred and muttered something just as the boy reached the pile of peaveys, and he held his breath. But the man did not wake and in another minute Jack was outside again with three of the peaveys.
“Good boy,” Bob declared.
“Gee, but I thought he was going to wake up once though,” Jack said as he again pulled on his boots.
The snow had been melting rapidly for the past two days and now there was only about a foot of it in the woods while many bare places were to be seen in the open. But the snow, though not deep was soft and slushy and it was hard walking. But so pleased were they that they had been successful in getting the peaveys, that they trudged along in high spirits.
“It’s only a little ways down to the rips and I know right where that big pine is,” Bob assured them.
Fortunately their boots were nearly enough waterproof so that their feet remained dry in spite of the wet snow.
“This isn’t exactly like walking on a pavement, is it?” Rex panted.
“Are we going too fast for you?” Bob asked.
“No. I g-guess not,” he replied gamely. “But if you don’t mind I’d like to rest a bit. Got a bit of a pain in my side.”
“Sure we’ll stop. There’s no hurry. Those fellows can’t be through yet.”