"But I'm beginning to shiver now all right; and I advise every one to crawl into his clothes in a hurry. Then we can talk it over. It's a mighty suspicious thing, that's what," remarked Frank.
They were only too glad to take his advice, and shortly after the four gathered around the revived campfire to exchange opinions.
They were a pretty smutty-looking crowd; but Jerry declared that those marks were medals of honor.
"Now, if we had all been like Will here, and each rushed for his possessions, the camp would have been a-goner," he remarked, with a reproachful look.
"That's all right, fellows, and under any other conditions I would have been one of the first to assist; but I'm the official photographer of the expedition, and the guardian of those splendid films that must perpetuate our camping trip, for posterity," he explained.
"Hear! hear!" cried Frank.
"Why didn't you lay the outfit down at a safe distance then, and help fight the fire with us?" demanded Bluff.
"I guess I know enough to take warning from your sad experience. They hooked your old gun; the next thing they'll be after will be my camera. No, sir, I hang on to that business through thick and thin. They'll have to chloroform me to get my films away, and that's so."
"Was it an accident?" asked Bluff, looking to Frank for an opinion.
"What do you think, Jerry?" demanded the leader.