Art turned red, and punched back for answer.
"What was it Art was saying back in Beaver Meadow about wishing there weren't any girls in the world?" asked Rob.
"Oh, they're all right, if they wear pink," said Peanut.
"You all make me sick," Art retorted. "Gee, Peanut, you got your face slapped, all right!"
"Sure I did," said Peanut. "That's a mark of affection. I made a hit with her, you see."
"That's a rotten joke," said Art.
"All right. Here's another. You go off and eat your lunch by yourself, if you don't like girls. The rest of us'll have ours with the crowd. We'll let him, won't we, fellers?"
Art only grunted, and made no answer to the laughter of the rest.
"All of which goes to show, Art," remarked Mr. Rogers, who had been listening, "that it's not safe to generalize about women. A man's always bound to meet one who'll upset all his ideas."
"Or slap his face," said Art, with a poke at Peanut.
At the little store, the boys paid the guide for their share in the expedition, and shouldered both their own loads and the lunch baskets the other party had brought with them, and left in the store. Then they hurried back down the road.
