“Well, in the first place,” Jack explained, “strange as you may think it, it happens that it isn’t a gentleman at all, but a lady who offers to pay for everything we’ll need, to have the greatest camping trip of our lives.”
“Re-markable!” gurgled Toby Hopkins. “Well, all I can say is that I’m more than surprised. But it’s mighty evident to me that she does this because of the admiration she feels for our chum, Jack Winters; and I guess, Steve, once more we’re lucky to have such a general favorite for a comrade.”
“Listen, fellows,” remonstrated Jack, hastily, “there are several reasons why the lady is doing this for us. One of them is admiration for the way we acquitted ourselves in the baseball games lately played. She has a healthy regard for the proper bringing up of boys, though she has never been married herself, and therefore knows them only from hearsay. She is interested in the projected gymnasium, and means to invest some of her means in the enterprise, believing that it will pay enormous dividends to the young people of 6 this community. But you mustn’t ask me for her name, because I am not at liberty to mention it even to you fellows just yet. Later on the promise of secrecy may be withdrawn, after we’ve come back from our trip.”
“Then there is another reason for her generosity besides the desire to reward a select few of the Chester nine on account of their good work on the diamond, eh, Jack?” asked Steve, persistently.
“Yes, I own up to that,” he was told, “but that’s also a secret for the present. She has made one provision which is that we are to take a quantity of pictures of the region while there, and that will certainly be an easy way of returning her kindness, especially since she stands sponsor for everything, and we are not limited to the amount of our expenses.”
“Whew! that sounds like a fairy story, Jack,” breathed Toby, entranced.
“I take it,” continued the wise Steve, “that if she wants certain pictures of the region for some reason or other, the camping country has already been settled on?”
“Yes, it has, and I hope you’ll both be pleased when I tell you we are going up into the Pontico Hills region, with a horse and covered wagon, hired from Tim Butler’s livery stable, to carry all our stuff along.”
“The very place I’ve always wanted to spend a spell in!” ejaculated Steve, exultantly. “It’s 7 surely a wild region, and a better camping place couldn’t be picked out, no matter how long you tried.”
Toby, too, seemed delighted.