"Any of you boys ever see that outfit before?" asked Bud's mother, when an account of the professor's camp had been given.
No one had, but "Snake" Purdee, so called because of his deadly fear of rattlers that were occasionally met with, remarked, after disposing of a mouthful of biscuit:
"Some of the Double Z boys was tellin' me of a locoed tenderfoot who was grubbin' for diamonds, or suthin' like that, an' I reckon this is him."
"Shouldn't wonder," commented Mrs. Merkel. "You say you're going to send over some liniment?" she asked the foreman.
"I was aimin' to do it," he answered. "That is if you——"
"Oh, of course!" interrupted Mrs. Merkel. "One of the boys can ride over this evening. I don't want anybody to suffer when I can help."
Nort nudged Bud under the table.
"Can't we go, too?" asked the city lad.
Bud hesitated a moment and then answered:
"Why, yes, I reckon so." To his mother he said: "I'll ride over, too, with Nort and Dick."