Must have been well on towards midnight, and I was just ready to turn in when Mr. Ellins comes paddin' out of his stateroom, luggin' two pairs of hip rubber boots.
"Torchy," says he, "call Killam, will you?"
By the time I'd routed out Rupert, I finds Auntie and Vee waitin' in the main cabin, all dressed for travel.
"I may be the oldest joke on record," says Old Hickory, "but I propose to know before morning what is in that mound. Of course, if anyone feels foolish about going—"
"I do, for one," speaks up Auntie, "and I should think you would, too, Matthew Ellins. We've been told how silly we are enough times to-night, haven't we?"
"We have," says Old Hickory. "Which is just why I propose to see this thing through."
"And I am quite as stubborn as you are," says Auntie. "That is why I am going, too."
Vee and I didn't put up any apologies. We just trailed along silent. As for Rupert, he'd been kicked around so much the last few days that he hadn't a word to say. Here he was, too, right on the verge of the big test that he'd been workin' up to so long, and he's so meek he hardly dares open his head. When we starts pilin' into the launch he shows up with a couple of bundles.
"What the syncopated seraphims have you there?" demands Old Hickory.
"Gas bombs," says Rupert. "To clear out the snakes."