dn't want anything more to do with us."

"This wa'n't any red-skinned boy, but a white," Toby declared,
positively. "An Injun would a toed-in, and wore moccasins; but he had
on shoes, and turned his toes out, all right, civilized way. But then,
just as you say, p'raps it don't matter a row of beans to us who he
was. We may run acrost 'em sooner or later; and again mebbe we won't."

When the two tents were in position it began to look "jolly much like
a camp," as Step Hen declared.

The mules were allowed to graze on the little tufts of grass that grew
in spots around, where there was enough earth to allow of such a
thing. Close by was an occasional stunted tree, from which the boys
easily secured all the firewood that was apt to be needed.

And how genial that blaze did look in the coming night, as it shone
upon the tents, the smiling faces of the scouts, and the general
surroundings, so wild and lonely.

"Looks like we owned the whole world," remarked Bumpus, "when you just
squint around, and see the old Rockies towerin' up to the right and to
the left, behind and before. Say, this is what we've been lookin'
forward to a long time, ain't it, fellers?"

Bumpus seemed to be happier over the situation than any of the others.
Really, it was queer how deep an interest the stout youth had always
taken in this trip to the Wild Northwest. He it was who first
suggested the same, and on every occasion he had fostered the idea. Up
in Maine, when they first heard about that rich reward offered for the
recovery of the missing valuables that had been stolen from a bank,
Bumpus had been the one to declare that they ought to recover them, so
as to have plenty of funds in the treasury, to pay the expenses of a
grand trip to the backbone of the continent, those glorious mountains
which he saw so often in his day dreams, and yearned so much to visit.

Of course, by this time every one of his chums had become filled with
enthusiasm also, and there was no faint answer to this question on the
part of Bumpus.

Pretty soon supper was started, and that was a time when the scouts
began to be more or less restless. Tired as they might be, when the
delicious odors permeated the outermost limits of the camp, no one
seemed able to sit still. The fact of the matter was that they were
ravenously hungry, and it was tantalizing to get the "smell" of the
cooking, with the knowledge that it would be at least half an hour ere
they could begin to