“It’s like walking on cotton,” Jerry said. “This must be the softest ground in the world.”
“We’re really not walking on the ground,” Russ said. “The duff and humus here must be a foot thick.”
“What’s duff and humus?” Jerry demanded.
“Decayed vegetable matter,” Quiz translated promptly. “Falling pine needles, scraps of bark, dead plants and bushes.”
As they got farther away from the lake, the matter underfoot began to rustle crisply. A pine cone fell, rattling through the dry boughs. Russ glanced up and frowned.
“If only it would rain,” he sighed.
At the end of the first hour, he called a halt. “Ten-minute break.” The boys protested that they weren’t tired yet, but he was adamant. “If you walk until you’re tired, you won’t want to get up again. A ten-minute break every hour helps prevent fatigue. And remove your packs. The idea is to relax completely.”
Jerry sat down with his back to a tree and removed his left shoe and sock to examine a red welt on his instep. “Gee, I think I’m getting a blister.”
“Let’s see.” Russ came over and knelt down by him. “Hmmm, it looks that way.” He went to his pack, got out a first-aid kit and found a Band-aid.
As he applied the little adhesive bandage to the blister, his eyes fell on Jerry’s sock lying on the ground.