Part 4 (1/2)
”Absolutely.”
”Then don't ever tell a soul,” begged John eagerly. ”I'd never hear the last of it as long as I lived. It would be awful if George ever knew.”
”You're not the first one who's ever been fooled,” laughed Grant. ”You probably won't be the last, either.”
”Please don't tell on me, though, Grant. Promise me you won't.”
”We'll see,” said Grant evasively. ”I can't make any promises though.”
”How should I know that it was a loon?” demanded John. ”I never heard one before and you yourself say that other people have been fooled the same way.”
”That's true. Still it's almost too good a joke on you to keep.”
”What is a loon, anyway?”
”It's a bird; it belongs to the duck family, I guess. They live around on lakes and ponds like this and spend their nights waking people up and scaring them.”
”I should say they did,” exclaimed John with a shudder. ”I never heard such a lonesome-sounding, terrible wail in all my life.”
”There it is again,” said Grant laughingly, as once more the cry of the loon came to their ears across the dark waters of the little lake.
”Let's go back to sleep,” exclaimed John earnestly. ”That sound makes my blood run cold, even though I know it is made by a bird.”
”Don't you think we ought to tell Fred and Pop about it?” inquired Grant mischievously. ”It seems to me they ought to be warned.”
”You can tell them about it if you don't mention my name in connection with it,” said John. ”If you tell on me though, I swear I'll get even with you if it takes me a year.”
”All right,” laughed Grant, ”I won't say anything about it. At least, not yet,” he added under his breath.
”What did you say?” demanded John, not having caught the last sentence.
”I said, 'let's go to bed.'”
”That suits me,” exclaimed John, and a few moments later they had once more crawled quietly over their sleeping comrades and again rolled in their blankets, were sound asleep.
The sun had not been up very long before the camp was astir. Sleepy-eyed the boys emerged from the tent, blinking in the light of the new day. A moment later, however, four white bodies were splas.h.i.+ng and swimming around in the cool waters of the lake, and all the cobwebs of sleep were soon brushed away.
”That's what makes you feel fine,” exclaimed George when they had all come out and were dressing preparatory to eating breakfast. ”A swim like that makes me feel as if I could lick my weight in wildcats.”
”You must have slept pretty well last night, Pop,” remarked Grant.
”I did. Never slept harder in my life.”
”Well, I didn't,” exclaimed Fred. ”It seemed to me I was dreaming all night long. Maybe my bed wasn't fixed just right.”
”What did you dream about, Fred?” asked Grant curiously.
”Oh, all sorts of things. I thought I heard people calling for help.