Back and forth the younger fellow went, until he had carried a great lot of articles, calculated to induce a comfortable night’s rest ashore. Then he started in to fix things to suit him, taking a part of the blankets.
“That settles it,” whispered Jack, to Herb, who was next, “he’s a greenhorn, as far as camping goes.”
“Yep, guess he is,” assented the other, although, if put to the test, Herb might have found it difficult to explain on what he founded his belief.
“See where he’s gone and arranged his blankets,” Jack continued. “There, he’s trying to see how they feel; and would you look at his head toward the fire. No experienced camper ever does that, because it’s his feet that get cold in the night, so he always has them closest to the fire.”
“Sure!” agreed Herb, just as though he had always known that fact, when in truth it had never occurred to him before.
“He fetched some grub with him the last time he came!” whispered George, on the other side of Jack, “and if anybody asked me what that stood for I’d be likely to say it meant they were going to stay on dry land a little while, till they get that engine working that’s what.”
“Well, that isn’t going to be long,” remarked Josh in turn as there came a series of explosions from aboard the boat, that sounded as regularly as clockwork. “He’s got her working now, all right, I guess.”
“Then he must be a crack-a-jack of a mechanic,” observed George, thoughtfully, as though a vague idea had come into his head that it might pay him to get such a man to look over his engine, given the chance.
“But I haven’t seen any paint—yet,” remarked Buster, obstinately.
“Well, what would they want to get busy with that for at night time?” Josh asked him. “If they put in tomorrow hiding here on the island you’ll see enough of paint slingin’ to suit you, Buster, believe me. They’ll want to get the boat partly up out of the water on some skids, using block and tackle to drag her; and then so change her looks that nobody’ll recognize her as the same suspicious white boat that took the bank’s cash away.”