He was gloomily thinking over the prospect when Greenleaf burst into the room. He put his foot in Scott’s lap, jumped lightly to the table, and landed in his chair on the other side with a crash. The jar shook the entire house. Scott thought he had gone crazy, but Greenleaf beamed at him in perfect contentment.
“What are you going to do Thanksgiving?” he asked eagerly. “Going to gorge yourself at that millionaire’s?”
“No,” Scott laughed, “I canceled that for fear they might make me eat in the barn with the other prize stock. I am going to gorge myself all I can at the boarding-house, but I hardly expect to injure myself there.”
“Cancel that too. I have a scheme worth ten of that. We have Thursday and Friday off. Saturday we have but one class, which we can cut with impunity. Let’s you and Morgan and Ormand and me, take a hike down the river to Wabasha. Morgan has a dog tent that will hold the four of us if it is put up as a lean-to and we can sleep wherever night catches us, as long as it is not in a town. We can collect all kinds of specimens for dendrology and have a whale of a time.”
“I thought you were going to work,” Scott objected.
“So I was going to work, but didn’t you see me come in just now? I don’t come in that way every night, do I? I just received a check from the state for some fire-fighting that I did so long ago that I had forgotten it, and, by jingoes, I am going to celebrate.”
“That would certainly be a great stunt,” Scott agreed, “and I don’t know of anything I’d rather do. I am crazy to have a look at the geology of that river bottom. Will the other fellows go?”
“Sure, I saw them both and they are in for it. They know the trees, the insects, and the fungi, not to mention some sylviculture, and methods of estimating. You know the rocks and geology, and I know every bird and beast that moves in these parts. I tell you it will be great!”
“Where shall we get our meals?” Scott asked.
“I have a camp frying pan and a teakettle, and we can buy what grub we need at the stores we pass. Maybe we shall have some game, too, Ormand is a dandy with that little Stevens pistol, and may catch something sitting around loose. Tomorrow we’ll get everything ready and the next day we’ll start good and early.”