Dan shook his head. Chips and Midge offered to stay with him, but he told them it wouldn’t be necessary.
“I can finish it alone,” he insisted. “Shouldn’t take me much longer now.”
Left to himself, Dan kept steadily at work. The picture now had taken on both form and color, with pleasing symbols in blue, black, yellow and red.
Carefully, he sifted the sand, trying not to blur edges of the outlines. Often, however, the capricious wind would snatch the grains from his fingers, blowing them helter-skelter.
Dan lost all count of time as he worked. Finally, the last outline had been filled with yellow sand, and the job was done.
Tired, but thoroughly pleased, the boy rocked back on his heels to survey the picture.
“Not bad—not half bad,” he remarked aloud.
Dan suddenly realized that the hour had grown late, for both the river and the nearby forest were darkening. The Cubs, he knew, had been gone a long while. At any moment, they should be returning to camp.
“They’ll be surprised to find the picture finished!” he thought proudly.
Dan stood back to survey the sand picture. The edges were blowing and he was a little worried lest the outlines be ruined by the wind.