Once he found himself quite alone there, and when assured of that, Hugh got out the little medicine kit that was a part and parcel of the Oakvale Troop’s camp equipage, spending quite some time in overhauling its contents.
From the significance attached to this action on the part of the scout master, it might be suspected that Hugh could not get certain things out of his mind. He feared that sooner or later there was bound to be a collision of armed forces over there between the camp of the strikers, and the cement works where the new men were being guarded by deputies and guards; and the possibility of such a calamity gave Hugh Hardin much cause for thought.
A number of times during the earlier part of the morning, had anyone been observing the scout master, they might have seen him raise his head and appear to listen intently.
This always happened when the wind picked up a little, and rustled through the leaves of the trees overhead. It was also a significant fact that the breeze was coming directly from the quarter where they had reason to believe the shanties of the foreigners made up a settlement, with the cement works not far beyond.
Some sound startled Hugh each time. He feared it might be a distant shout, and that it would mean the beginning of an outbreak, the end of which no person could prophesy. But fortunately these all proved to be false alarms. The morning slipped away, and at noon all of the scouts gathered to enjoy the fish that Billy and Bud had captured and prepared for the pan.
They were pronounced simply elegant, and the successful fishermen told they could duplicate their performance at any time they felt inclined that way.
“Mebbe we will to-morrow,” said Billy; “but there’s a louder call for me this same afternoon. Bullfrogs as big as puppies, and singing to get knocked over, eh? Well, I’m much obliged for the information, Harold and Arthur. If I’m lucky in my little hunt, you’ll be able to taste the finest dish going to-night.”
While they ate their midday meal, everybody explained what they had spent the morning in doing; and that added greatly to the enjoyment of the occasion. And it had been amusing to see how Billy’s eyes danced when told about those gigantic frogs hidden among the sedge grass along the low shores of the creek, in places where it widened out and became very shallow.
“I’m going to take off my shoes and wade wherever it happens that’s the best way to get a crack at the sly old chaps,” Billy had told them; and shortly afterward he was seen ambling away to where the creek joined the river, meaning to follow this former stream up until he came to the hunting-grounds described by the tracking party.
Now and then, during the next half hour, they heard a faint report, which, of course, they knew was made by Billy’s small Flobert rifle.