“How about those clouds over yonder, Teddy?” asked Dolph, when the afternoon was possibly two-thirds gone. “Looks a little like rain, don’t you think?”
“Where?” ejaculated the other, eagerly, as though he just welcomed a chance to call a halt upon the day’s doings. “Well, yes, to be sure they have got a sort of ugly look. P’raps we’d just as well draw in at that point ahead, and make things snug for the night. Because we’ve been favored with good weather up to now, mustn’t make us think we’re always going to have the same. You never know what’s going to come up in a night; and for that reason I always make it a point, even when things look as peaceful as they could, to secure the canvas of a tent, just as if I knew a terrible storm was going to break on me. Got left once, with my canvas carried high up in the branches of a tree, just through pure carelessness; and it served as a lesson I’ll never forget. Head in, Amos; we’re going to land there under that leaning tree. Looks like a dandy camp site, with all those extra big trees around. And honest, fellows, I must say I’m pretty near played out with fighting that pesky current all the live-long day. Here’s where we find rest. Hurrah for the next camp! for every new one is the best, you know!”
CHAPTER III
THE JOY OF CAMPING OUT
To tell the truth, none of them showed any signs of disappointment because the labor of the day was done. It was no child’s play, urging the canoes against the volume of water the flowed down the Manistique on the occasion of their voyage. And as they had come out for fun, and not to earn a living with the paddle, the boys knew when they had enough.
So, after bringing the two boats ashore, they drew them partly out of the water at a place that seemed to have been just designed for that very purpose by a kind Nature, as the beach was shelving, and sandy too, for a wonder.
It was quickly decided just where the tent should be erected. There were a few general rules governing this part of the daily programme, which all of them knew by heart. First of all, it was necessary to select ground that was not on the dead level, so that in case of a rain during the night, the inmates of the tent would not find themselves knee-deep in a flood. And with those clouds hovering in the southwest, they felt it wise to make assurance in this respect doubly sure on this particular night.
Then the camp must be pitched away from any sort of swampy patch, which could not only breed mosquitoes by myriads, but prove malarial as well. And having an eye to the picturesque, the boys always saw to it that they could arrange the front of the tent toward the water. It was so pleasant to look out, and see the little waves dancing in the moonlight, as well as hear the musical gurgle so dear to the hearts of all those who love the great Outdoors.