That caused all of them to laugh again, for they were feeling decidedly merry by now. Impending success always begets such a condition with boys, who only see the present, or the immediate future, and do not worry as to what Time may have in store for them.
“There was another story told about Perk and his horn that I remember,” mused Amos. “Sounds almost too rotten silly to be true, and I kind of half suspect some fellow manufactured it. But they say that last Fall, in the thrilling football game between Chester High and that strong eleven coming up from Bellwood when luck allowed our chum, playing with Chester, to kick the deciding goal, while the crowd yelled like mad, his old horn was heard above all the din; and they do say he had it with him all along, concealed somewhere; but everybody laughs when they tell you that yarn, so I reckon it’s all made up out of whole cloth.”
“Give him another whoop, W. W.!” said Elmer.
Gladly did the tall chum avail himself of the privilege, and this time they felt a full confidence while listening for a response.
“There, that’s the boy, all right!” cried Wee Willie. “We ought to congratulate each other on the success of our search, because the game is winding up.”
“So is Perk, it seems,” chuckled Amos, in amusement, as other weird blasts came to their ears, all from the same quarter.
Elmer changed his course just a trifle. It was like a mariner after a storm adjusting his compass once more, now sure of his points, after being able to take a reckoning during a burst of sunlight.
How different everything looked under the new order of things! No one longer thought the woods gloomy, or filled with unknown perils; the cheery sunlight breaking through the opening overhead seemed to cast a halo over the aisles of the tall timber, making them look like fairyland itself, such is the effect of impending victory on the human mind.
“I wonder if the poor fellow is nearly half starved at that?” Wee Willie was saying, as he trudged ahead; for no one could think of a single thing that did not have some bearing on Perk.
Amos was seen to tap his pocket suggestively, as though wishing to make assurance doubly certain before speaking.