Part 25 (1/2)
”We'll eat in another hour, I guess, if that suits the crowd,” replied d.i.c.k.
”I'm ready to eat right now,” coaxed Dutcher.
”But you don't belong to the crowd,” retorted Dave Darrin grimly.
”Unless you want to put up with bread you'll have to wait until the crowd is ready.”
”Potatoes will be the first thing ready for dinner, Hen,” observed Prescott mildly. ”As you're not doing anything outdoors, you might get busy peeling a big pan of potatoes.”
”See here,” flared Dutcher, ”I told you before that I'm no servant, and----”
But d.i.c.k had risen, for the clock informed him that it was time to relieve the s.h.i.+ft out in the deep snow.
”Suit yourself, Hen,” replied Prescott. ”If you don't peel the potatoes, and some one else has to do it, then you won't eat any hot dinner to-day. That's flat.”
”Isn't d.i.c.k Prescott just a mean bully?” growled Hen to himself, as the ”relief” stepped outdoors to resume work.
”See that Hen keeps busy peeling and was.h.i.+ng potatoes,” d.i.c.k advised Greg in pa.s.sing.
Then the three rested shovelers took up the task. The path was now approaching the cook shack at the rear of the cabin.
”Queer, isn't it,” inquired Dave, ”that we don't see a blessed thing of Mr. Fits to-day, and that there's no smoke going up his chimney.”
”Perhaps he has left these parts,” suggested Tom, rather hopefully.
”How could he?” Dave wanted to know.
”Maybe he went last night.”
”I doubt if he could get away, even last night, at the hour when we turned him adrift,” Darrin contended. ”A man might have gone a quarter of a mile, but he couldn't go a whole mile.”
”He hasn't been out to-day, at any rate,” declared d.i.c.k. ”There isn't a trace of a track anywhere near the shack.”
”Let's dig up to that window and look in,” suggested Dave.
This was done. A few minutes later the three boys stood at the window, glancing in at all they could see of the small interior. Beyond the stove and chairs there appeared to be nothing to see.
”Well, our dear friend Fits isn't on the premises--that's certain,”
remarked Dave Darrin.
Which conclusion might be true, or, again, might not.
CHAPTER XIII
A VISITOR BY THE AIR ROUTE
When the boys awoke next morning the fire was still burning, though there was not enough of it left to prevent a thin layer of ice forming over the surface of the water in the barrel. Tom Reade slipped from his bunk, drawing on shoes and trousers, and quickly placed a few more logs over the embers. A few minutes after that it was warm enough for the rest to slip out of their bunks and dress hurriedly--all except Hen Dutcher.