"Hey, Tad, supper"s ready," shouted Ned, peering over the cliff.
"All right," came back the answer. "I"m eating mine now. I"ve got corned beef and--"
"And what? It must be something pretty good."
"It is. What would you say to canned peaches?"
"Canned peaches! Now, fellows, what do you think of that? I didn"t know there were any in the pack," mourned Ned.
"And you the cook! I don"t think you"re much of a cook after all.
It"s lucky for us you didn"t know it, I guess," said Stacy, with a grimace.
"Lucky for Tad, you mean. Precious little of those canned peaches we"ll ever see. Come, fall to. You"ll make me late with my dishes,"
urged Ned.
They were hungry enough, and the spiderful of beans and bacon looked good to them.
"What, do we have to eat with a spoon--a large spoon, at that?"
"You do, unless you prefer to use your fingers, Professor. We are not allowed by you to do that, but I presume you can if you want to.
Chunky doesn"t need any. We will divide the two spoons between the three of us," said Ned, with a twinkle in Stacy"s direction.
But his levity did not disturb the fat boy in the least. After having had his plate heaped with beans and bacon, Stacy calmly took from his pocket two sharp sticks that he had cut and trimmed just before supper. On one of these he speared a piece of bacon, stringing several beans on the other, and carrying both mouthward at the same time.
The boys burst out laughing.
"Well, will you look at the chopsticks!" exclaimed Ned. "I always thought he"d make a good Chinaman."
"Master Stacy is at least resourceful," answered the Professor, a broad grin on his face. "I think I shall cut me some sticks just like those."
The boy stripped the beans from one into his mouth and extended the stick to Professor Zepplin.
"No, thank you," laughed the scientist. "I think I prefer to get my own."
Chunky solemnly chased a truant bean about his plate, finally spearing and conveying it to his already well-filled mouth.
CHAPTER VII
BOY AND PONIES STRANGELY MISSING
After all, the supper proved a very jolly meal, now that they were sure Tad was all right. Then, again, the beans and bacon were p.r.o.nounced excellent by each of them, and Stacy had made fully as good time with his crude chopsticks as had the others with the tablespoons.
Supper finished, all hands turned in to help wash the dishes, and in a few moments the camp was again in perfect order.
Tad was informed of Stacy"s skill with chopsticks, and they could hear him laughing over it, even though they were no longer able to see him.
"Are you warm enough down there?" called Ned.
"Sure thing. I have most of the blankets."
"That means we freeze, I guess," interjected Stacy.
"You can go cut yourself a few chopsticks and sleep under them,"
retorted Ned Rector. "Hey, Tad, why don"t you build a fire down there?"
"Haven"t any matches."
"Never mind, Tad, the moon soon will be up and you can get warm by that," shouted the fat boy.
"Chunky has suddenly developed into a wit, Tad. I don"t know what"s happened to the boy. It must have been that fall over the cliff that shook his thinking machinery into place."
"Pity some other folks not more"n a million miles away wouldn"t fall over," muttered Stacy.
"What"s that you say?" demanded Ned, turning on him.
"I--I was just thinking to myself," explained Chunky, edging away.
Ned was glaring at him ferociously, at the same time struggling to keep back the laughter that rose to his lips because of Stacy"s sharp retort.
"I"ll make a suggestion, young gentlemen," said the Professor.
"Yes, sir, what is it?" asked the boys in chorus.
"Pile up all the dry wood that Walter has gathered. Pile it right up on the edge of the cliff and light it. I think that will make the evening more cheerful for Master Tad down there."
"That will be fine," cried Walter.
Quickly carrying the dried wood to the place indicated, they piled it so that it would make a long fire, then lighted it from three sides at the same time.
The result was a bright blaze that flared high, lighting the rocks far down into the canyon, but not sufficiently far to reach Tad.
"Trying to burn up the mountain?" shouted Tad.
"No; we"re trying to burn it down, so we can pick you up," called Ned Rector.
"Oh," came up from the depths.
"It seems to me that you young men are getting rather sharp with each other," said the Professor, shaking his head.
"I guess it must be the Ozark air getting into our lungs," answered Ned. "I"ve felt like having a wrestling bout with some one ever since we got into these mountains."
"Wait till Tad comes up. I think he will accommodate you," suggested Chunky wisely.
"You mustn"t mind our talk, Professor," explained Walter. "We say things to each other, but it"s all in fun. We don"t mean to be mean.
Do we, Ned?"