And Bluff did buy it, too.  All the way home he kept tabs on that package, and often, when Frank was not looking, he would go through certain gestures with it gripped in his hand, as though practicing against that day when the aforesaid grizzly and he would have their little heated argument for supremacy.

Jerry, too, either felt shocked at the enormous size of the wonderful hunting-knife, or else pretended to be.  He shrugged his shoulders in that scornful way he had, and turned his back on the prize Bluff had drawn.

“What else could you expect of a man who goes after quail with a Gatling gun?  Why, the poor innocent grizzly will faint dead away at sight of that cavalry sword.  It gives me a cold chill just to look at it,” he observed.

Bluff only laughed.

“Rank envy eating up your soul, that’s all, my boy.  Wait till you see me in action with that razor-edged tool.  I’ll have you all turning green with envy yet,” he said, fondling the ivory-handled weapon ere he thrust it back into its sheath.

The days dragged along.  Will counted them, and each night heaved a sigh of relief that they were a notch nearer the time of departure.  Finally the last night arrived, and their coming tour was to be marked by a little gathering at the home of Frank, which was intended to be in the way of a send-off.

CHAPTER V

WESTWARD BOUND

There were just eight people gathered together that evening to have a good time.  Besides Nellie Langdon, of course, Will’s twin sister, Violet, graced the occasion with her presence; then there came Mame Crosby, the vivacious girl with the auburn locks, who was so fond of teasing Jerry; and last, but not least, pretty Susie Prescott, a dainty, prim little blonde, whom Will considered a bundle of sweetness.

What a splendid time this congenial little company had!  For many a day the memory of it would follow the four chums while far away.

All of the “material of war,” as Mame called it, had been brought to Frank’s house, so that it might be packed in one big trunk.  Thus the boys would be bothered with only a suitcase and a gun apiece in the long journey across the continent.

The girls insisted upon being shown the wonderful aggregation of clothing and weapons.  It was to them very much like a shopping expedition, and many were the exclamations of awe and curiosity as they looked upon the exhibition.

Bluff, of course, was very proud of that wonderful hunting-knife of his.  He even smiled to see the perceptible shudder with which Nellie surveyed him as he cut imaginary circles in the air with the keen-edged weapon.

“Oh!  I hope you won’t have to use it very often, Bluff!  It makes me shiver just to think of you meeting one of those fierce grizzly bears, such as I have seen in the menagerie,” she said confidentially to him.