There was a long hike
before them ere they could expect to reach the road leading home,
where possibly a wagon might be hired to help get them into town
again.
One thing pleased them, and this was the fact that for the most part
the return journey would be down-grade. In consequence they expected
to make the distance separating them from the road in about half the
time it had taken in coming.
Bud hurried through the morning meal. Indeed, Ralph even joked him
on his seeming lack of appetite; for as a rule Bud was a good feeder
and came second only to Billy Worth, long recognized as champion in
the troop.
"Well, you see," Bud explained, "there are a whole lot of important
things I mean to do to-day, and the sooner I get busy the better
chance I'll have to go through the list. First thing of all is to
take a little tramp around toward the west of the camp, to see if I
can stumble on the place where that last old shooting star struck us.
I'm going to look sharp for a hole, because it seems to me such a big
lump of iron and other ore would smash into our earth at a pretty
lively clip."
"Hold on a minute and let's start fair!" called out Ralph. "We're
just as anxious as you are to make some sort of discovery, eh, Hugh?"
"Some sort, yes," the patrol leader admitted, with a queer little
smile that Bud noticed, but could not understand just then.
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