at his word, in training matters, was to be their
law. So the tent came down, in pretty nearly record time, and
was loaded on the wagon. The horse was harnessed, also without
breakfast, and the party started down the road with Harry Hazelton
holding the reins.

"I hope it's a short two miles," growled Reade to Darrin.

"Humph! A fine Indian you'd make, Tom!" jibed Dave. "An Indian
is trained in being hungry. It's a part of the work that he has
to undergo before he is allowed to be one of the men of the tribe."

"That's just the trouble with me," Tom admitted. "I've never
been trained to be an Indian, and I am inclined to think that
it requires training, and a lot of it."

Outwardly Tom didn't "grump" any, but he made a resolve that,
hereafter, his voice would be strong for halting right on the
bank of a swimming place.

"Can't we hit up the pace a bit?" asked Tom.

"Yes," nodded Dick. "All who want to travel fast can hike right
ahead. Just keep on the main road."

Tom, Greg and Dan immediately forged ahead, taking long, rapid
steps.

"But don't go in the water until we come up," Dick called after
them. "Remember, the morning is hot, and you'll be too overheated
to go in at once."

"Eh?" muttered Tom, with a sidelong look at his two fast-time
companions. "Humph!"

Then they fell back with the wagon again.

"There doesn't seem to be any way to beat the clock to breakfast,"
observed Dan, after he had walked several rods down the road.

"I've talked with old soldiers," Dick went on, "who have told
me all sorts of tales of war time, about the commissary train
not catching up with the fighting line for four days at a stretch.
Yet here you fellows feel almost ill if you have to put off breakfast
half an hour. What kind of men would you boys make if it came
to the stern part of life?"

"If going without breakfast is part of the making of a man," said
Danny Grin solemnly, "then I'd rather be a child some more."

"You always will be a child," Dave observed dryly. "Birthdays
won't make any great difference in your real age, Danny boy."

"After that kind of a roast," grinned Reade, "I believe I'll take
a reef in a few of the bitter things I was about to say."

Dick laughed pleasantly. Somehow, with the walk, all soon began
to feel better. That first fainting, yearning desire for food
was beginning to pass.

"Do you know what the greatest trouble is with the American people?"
asked Dick, after