“Tomorrow or the next day!” groaned the other. “Mighty cheering, aren’t you? If I actually thought they wouldn’t arrive before then, I’d cross the river and go on to meet them.”
“You foolish fellow if you do that,” stated Toma, throwing a handful of pebbles into the swiftly-flowing stream. “You easy pass by each other by mistake an’ not know thing about it. Bye-’n’-bye you find you hit trail for Fort Good Faith an’ factor an’ mounted police same time hit trail close to mine. How you like that?”
“I wouldn’t like it,” responded Sandy, “and I haven’t the least intention of pulling a crazy stunt like that. What I would do if I crossed, would be to search for them along the river. You remember the trouble we had in finding a place where the current wasn’t too swift for a raft. It is only natural to suppose that they may be having the same trouble.”
“True enough,” agreed Dick. “But eventually they’d be forced to come down here. It’s the only safe crossing.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“Another thing, you can’t cross over without a raft,” Dick went on. “It would be more difficult to build a raft on this side of the river than on the other. The trees are all on the other side.”
“There’s plenty of driftwood,” Sandy pointed out.
“I think mebbe it good idea if we do build raft,” Toma suddenly spoke up. “It save time for mounted police. First thing they have to do when they come is make ready chop down trees. Mebbe pretty tired an’ no like do that. Factor MacClaren him be glad when he find raft all ready—only wait for him to cross.”
“You said a mouthful!” approved Sandy. “We can have one ready in two or three hours. Then we’ll slip over to the other side and wait until they come.”
Dick acquiesced willingly, not only because the suggestion seemed a good one, but also because the work entailed would cause them to forget the slow, monotonous passing of time. Sandy became cheerful again almost immediately. He and Toma hurried away to select the logs from the large piles of driftwood, while Dick sauntered over to the three ponies and returned a moment later with an axe and a coil of rope.