142Well, Steve had the nerve deliberately to draw the short straw. He grinned when he discovered what luck he had had, as though not so very much displeased after all.
“That settles it right, Toby,” he went on to say, pleasantly. “’Course it’ll seem like an everlastingly long time while I’m loafing here, but my heel is going to have a fair chance to get well. Then I’ve got that bully book, which I can enjoy if the weather gets real warm, so I won’t shiver at descriptions of the terrible times they had when nearly freezing to death in the ice packs. Oh! don’t look like you pitied me; I’m just as well satisfied it worked out that way.”
They did a good many things that afternoon. Jack got his camera in order for further work, because, of course, he meant to carry it along with him.
“Will you want to take the gun, too?” asked Steve, with a touch of solicitude in his manner; for he rather counted on having the firearm with him in camp, as a sort of protection that would serve to ease his mind; because it would be a pretty lonely night of it.
“No, we’ll leave that for you, Steve,” said Jack, immediately, as though all that had been settled in his mind.
“How about your meals?” Steve now asked. “If you expect to be gone over night, it’ll mean that three or four times you’ll want to break your fast. What sort of grub do you mean to carry 143 along with you that doesn’t need cooking; for I take it you’ll hardly expect to make a fire, for fear of being discovered?”
“You’re right about the fire part of it, Steve,” Jack informed him; “as for our food, I’ve arranged all that. You see, we fetched along a number of things that will come in handy for such a trip. In the first place, we’ll carry a lot of sweet chocolate; that always sustains a fellow when he’s weak from hunger. Then there’s that big hunk of fine dried beef, which I’m particularly fond of, and can eat just as I cut it from the strip.”
“The Indians always used to carry pemmican along with them, to munch on when going into the enemy’s country where a fire would endanger their lives,” announced Toby. “And this modern dried beef is something like the venison they smoked and cured until it was fairly black. They say a redskin could travel all day on just a handful of maize or corn, and as much pemmican; stopping to quench his thirst at some running stream or spring.”
“There are several other things we have with us that we can carry to help out in the food line,” Jack continued. “You must know that they have malted milk that only needs water to make a splendid and nourishing drink. Besides, there is desiccated egg in the shape of powder that is the real thing preserved. I have also several tins of soup that I can heat up day or night without a trace of fire.”
144“That’s a queer thing, Jack,” spoke up Toby; “tell us how the thing is done, won’t you please?”