CHAPTER VI

A NOCTURNAL VISITOR

Tom Sherwood threw out his arms and yawned loudly.  “I’m sleepy,” he mumbled.  “Guess I’ll turn in, if you fellows are going to sit up much longer.”

“Good idea, Tom,” commented Ralph, looking up from the letter he was writing.  “You’ve been making a holy show of yourself for the last half hour, and I’ve been expecting every minute to see you dislocate your jaw.”

“It’s being out in this air all day and doing such a lot of manual labor,” said Tom, as he staggered to his feet.

“Oh, say, I hope you’re not doing too much!  You know, Tom, you’re not used to farm work.”  Ralph laid down his pen and blotted the letter with much deliberation.  His pale face, from which the freckles had faded noticeably during a week of indoor confinement, wore an expression of deep concern.  “And it’s not easy, I can tell you!”

Arthur Cameron chuckled.  Though he said nothing, the expression on his face was one of such utter disbelief that even Tom noticed it and turned on him, frowning.

“Well, what are you looking at me like that for?” he demanded, without being able to hide a grin.  “Haven’t I been exercising?  Haven’t I?  What have you got to say about it?  Didn’t I spade up that old melon-patch and plant sixteen rows of carrots in it, this afternoon?”

“I never said you didn’t, old scout,” said Arthur.

“I know you’ve been working like a cart-horse, Tom,” interposed Ralph, who had hobbled around the fields for the first time that day, directing the labors of his friends.  “You and Art have done wonders all week, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for all the help you’ve given me.  It’s simply great to have such pals as you two!  And mother’ll be delighted to know that everything’s going so swell.  I had a letter from Doctor Kane to-day—–­guess I told you?  He said the operation was very successful and she’s doing finely.”

“Mighty glad to know it!” Tom declared warmly.  “Did he say when she could come home?”

“In a few days.  But you fellows can’t leave then!  No, sir-ee!  We’re going to have some fun after all this work is over, and mother and I will want you to stay and loaf for a while.  I can show you where to get some dandy photos of nesting birds, and I know where a pair of red foxes have a kennel every spring.  You can take pictures of the vixen and her cubs, if you go about it carefully at the right time of day.”

Arthur’s eyes shone with pleasant anticipation.  He was delighted with the prospect of getting some good photographs to show the boys in Pioneer Camp.  But Tom, though he also looked forward eagerly to the reunion of the troop at camp, shook his head with regret at the thought of leaving the farm.  Ralph had told him more about the dispute over the boundary, and about his father’s dreams of finding iron ore on the land; Tom was interested, for Ralph’s sake, in having the land surveyed and examined.