“Huh! think yourself smart to make fun of my twelve-horse power engine, don’t you, Herb?” he started to say, and would doubtless have delivered himself of considerably more along the same lines, only that Jack broke in by observing:
“All the same, Herb is right, there; for the man is aboard the boat and working away at the motor. He’s some machinist, believe me, from the way he goes about things. And there’s the other one going aboard too; wonder what that means?”
Watching they presently saw the younger fellow come in sight again, and step to the bank of the island from the power tied-up and anchored boat.
“Got an armful of blankets?” asserted Josh, immediately.
“That settles one thing, then,” came from George.
“Yes, they’re going to make camp ashore, and pass the night on firm ground,” Jack admitted. “Perhaps they like the change, as we do. Plenty of times when you just have to sleep aboard the boat, you know.”
“And p’raps,” George went on, “we’ll be trying out my little bit of a scheme, after all.”
They made themselves as easy as possible, and took up their vigil, not knowing how long it might last.
Back and forth the younger fellow went, until he had carried a great lot of articles, calculated to induce a comfortable night’s rest ashore. Then he started in to fix things to suit him, taking a part of the blankets.
“That settles it,” whispered Jack, to Herb, who was next, “he’s a greenhorn, as far as camping goes.”
“Yep, guess he is,” assented the other, although, if put to the test, Herb might have found it difficult to explain on what he founded his belief.
“See where he’s gone and arranged his blankets,” Jack continued. “There, he’s trying to see how they feel; and would you look at his head toward the fire. No experienced camper ever does that, because it’s his feet that get cold in the night, so he always has them closest to the fire.”
“Sure!” agreed Herb, just as though he had always known that fact, when in truth it had never occurred to him before.
“He fetched some grub with him the last time he came!” whispered George, on the other side of Jack, “and if anybody asked me what that stood for I’d be likely to say it meant they were going to stay on dry land a little while, till they get that engine working that’s what.”