"I dunno, but somewhere. The cap'n knows—an' he knows we're on short rations of only a few mouthfuls to a man."
The doctor and Baroney were to start out early, down river, hunting. The lieutenant and two or three men were to explore up stream and see where the river began, if they could. The rest of the men were to march down river with the baggage, until they killed enough game so that they might camp and wait.
"Miller and Mountjoy, 'tis you with the cap'n," ordered Sergeant Meek.
"I go, too, Bill?" pleaded Stub.
"Sure, that's for him to say. I've only my orders, lad," Sergeant Bill answered.
So Stub appealed to Lieutenant Pike himself.
"I go with you, please?"
But the lieutenant gravely shook his head.
"Not this time, my boy. You'd best go down river with the others, where there's more chance of finding game. Up stream it's a rough country, and the three of us are likely to be hard put for meat. We'll only explore for a day or two; you stay with the party."
As anybody might have foretold, the lieutenant again had taken the heaviest work.
