Mrs. Temple was too weak to walk and the boys improvised a litter for her.
“There aren’t any draughts outdoors, Mrs. Bennett.”
“There’s the damp air. Oh, it’s quite out of the question!”
“Don’t you think those O’Connor boys would be better out here?”
“I think a boy is better in his home, where his mother is. I have done everything for Connover—everything, and he is ready to do this much for me. Aren’t you, dearie?”
As Mr. Ellsworth walked back to camp through the silent woods, he was puzzled at the reasoning of the fond mother who thought that Dan Dreadnought was a better companion for her son than Roy Blakeley.
[Chapter IX]
“Burglars”
On one of their morning rambles, Mrs. Temple and Mary wandered to an unusual distance from home, and as the sun mounted higher Mrs. Temple felt greatly fatigued. Mary looked about for a spot where her mother might sit down and rest, but was startled by a slight sound and ran back just as Mrs. Temple sank fainting against a tree.
Greatly frightened, the girl looked wildly around for assistance, but there was no house nor sign of life in sight. Not knowing what to do she ran along the road a little way, calling aloud, when suddenly she heard a sound. Pausing to listen she distinctly heard again what sounded like a bugle call, and turning in the direction from which it seemed to come she ran through the woods until she came, breathless, to the camp of the Bridgeboro Scouts.