“Oh, am I?” laughed Jack. “How do you know I can?”
“You look like a mason,” replied Bee calmly. “Besides, if you don’t know how I’ll show you.”
“Then why don’t you do it yourself?” challenged Hal. “It seems to me you’re doing more bossing than work.”
“Somebody has to supply the brains, old Hal,” answered Bee cheerfully. “Come on and we’ll lug some stones for the mason.”
There were plenty of them but those that were of the proper size were mostly at the foot of the slope, and long before they had enough at the tent Hal was heard to murmur that for his part he thought it would have been a heap more sensible to have brought a cook-stove along!
But when the fire-place was finished even Hal had to own that it looked a lot jollier than a stove. “And a good deal more appropriate,” added Bee. “Whoever heard of hunting buried treasure on a desert island and cooking meals on a real stove? That would be a—a—one of those things.”
“One of what things?” asked Jack, pausing to view his work.
“Why, one of those an—anach—”
“Anachronism, he means,” explained Hal. “He doesn’t know much English, Jack. You’ll have to excuse him. His education has been sadly neglected.”
“There’s something in that,” replied Bee. “When he put me in to room with Hal, the Principal told me I was next to the stupidest boy in school. Of course, I don’t know what he meant by that.” Bee added the latter part of his remark rather hurriedly, as Hal was poising a nice large stone in his hand and had his gaze fixed disapprovingly on the speaker. “Folks do say such funny things sometimes.” Whereupon Bee by the simple expedient of rolling over backward, got behind Jack and out of range.