lied with scorn,
as he indicated the lads to take the opposite end of the tent to roll--

"Beetle? What do you take me for--a coleopterist? Ma conscience, laddie,
these insects are no interest to me. I wouldn't touch one with a pair o'
tongs. It's moths and butterflies for Skipper Mackintosh--the dainty
fluttering things that are like bits o' sunshine and beams o' the
moonlight. Beetle? Speak not to me the name o' thae things o'
darkness!"

The tent was rolled and most of the other adjuncts to the camp were
collected and deftly stowed on the back of the pack-horse with the
neatness of expert campers. Then a hasty cold meal was taken while
Mackintosh delivered his plans.

"Now, boys, listen to me. I've got to be your captain in this journey,
for you'll admit that I know best. Well, I've prepared food enough for
three of us for two days. Each will carry his own. Then you've got a
pair o' guns and a rifle between you. That's all that you'll need. I've
got my own rifle and a revolver, in case o' accidents, though I'm hoping
there'll be no need for the like o' that. Now we'll start off at once.
There's no straight road from here for Pleasant Valley, but it's through
bog and bush where the horse canna get wi' its burden. But it'll make
four or five hours' difference to us other than by the round-about way.
So Haggis'll take the pack-horse. Ay, he'll be better o' Bannock, too.
Dogs are often useless creatures in an expedition that might mean
creeping and hiding. Bannock's no' that bad-mannered; but he loves
hunting, and a wolf might tempt him."

"How far is it to this Pleasant Valley, as it is called?" asked Holden.

"Aboot fifteen mile as we will travel, twenty at the least by the path
Haggis'll follow. Oh, ay, Haggis'll be all right. There's no fear o' him
not turning up aboot midnight. He's no' quite ceevilised yet, for he
canna mind a' the words o' 'Auld Lang Syne' and 'Rule Britannia.' But
he's ceevilised enough to be dependable. You wait at the Old Crossing
till we turn up, Haggis!"

"Right, boss," answered the half-breed, who seldom spoke more than two
words at a time if he could avoid doing so, and he immediately rose up
to make the final arrangements for his departure.

"Then there's no more to be said," the Scotsman concluded. "It's start
right away; keep a brave heart and a steady foot foremost, and we'll no'
be that far from our friends come nightfall."

Skipper Mackintosh had spoken nothing but the truth