'Suppose you go
up to the storehouse and office,--it's about a mile,--and see if the
goods are there all right, and whether the men saw Pancho on his way
up to the canyon. Meanwhile, Phil and I will ride over here
somewhere to get a team, or look up Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario
Noriega. Jack can stay with Aunt Truth and the girls, to watch
developments.'
'But, papa, can't we pitch the camp to-night, somehow?' asked Bell,
piteously.
'I don't see how. We are behindhand already; and if we get started
within an hour we can't reach the ground I selected before dark and
we can't choose any nearer one, because if Pancho is anywhere in
creation he is on the identical spot I sent him to.'
'But, Dr. Paul, I'll tell you what we could do,' suggested Jack. 'If
we get any kind of a start, we can't fail to reach camp by seven or
eight o'clock at latest. Now it's bright moonlight, and if we find
Pancho, he'll have the baggage unloaded, and Hop Yet will have a fire
lighted. What's to prevent our swinging the hammocks for the ladies?
And we'll just roll up in our blankets by the fire, for to-night.
Then we'll get to housekeeping in the morning.'
This plan received a most enthusiastic reception.
'Very well,' replied the Doctor. 'If you are all agreed, I suppose
we may as well begin roughing it now as at any time.'
You may have noticed sometimes, after having fortified yourself
against a terrible misfortune which seemed in store for you, that it
didn't come, after all.
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