They stuck us between them, and we all ate. Whew, but it was a dirty camp. The dishes weren't clean and the stuff to eat was messy, and the fellows all swore and talked as bad as they could. It was a shame--and it seemed a bigger shame because here in the park everything was intended to be quiet and neat and ought to make you feel _good_. After supper they quarreled as to who would wash the dishes, and finally one washed and one wiped, and the rest lay around and smoked pipes and cigarettes. Over at his side of the little park the man had rolled up and was still. But I knew that he was watching, because he was smoking, too. We couldn't do anything, even if we had planned to. We might have untied the ropes on our feet, but the gang sat close about us. Then, they had the flags and the burros, and the man had the message; and if they had been wise they would have known that we wouldn't go far. Of course, we might have hung about and bothered them. They made each of us sleep with one of them. They had some dirty old quilts, and we all rolled up. CHAPTER VIII A NEW USE FOR A CAMERA We were stiff when we woke in the morning, but we had to lie until the rest of them decided to get up, and then it was hot and late. That was a lazy camp as well as a dirty one. The early morning is the best part of the day, out in the woods, but lots of fellows don't seem to think so. I had slept with Bat, and he had snored 'most all night. Now as soon as I could raise my head from the old quilts I looked over to see the man. He wasn't there. His horse wasn't there and his fire wasn't burning. The spot where he had camped was vacant. He had gone, with our message! I wriggled loose from Bat and woke him, and he swore and tried to make me lie still, but I wouldn't. Not much! "Red!" I called, not caring whether I woke anybody else or not. "Red! General!" I used both names--and I didn't care for that, either. He wriggled, too, to sit up. "What?" "The man's gone. He isn't there. He's gone with the message!" The general exclaimed, and worked to jerk loose from Bill; and Fitz's head bobbed up. There wasn't any more sleep for that camp, now. "Oh, shut up!" growled Bill. "You fellows turn us loose," we ordered. "We've got to go. We've got to follow that man." But they wouldn't, of course. They just laughed, and said: "No, you don't want to go. You've given us your parole; see?" and they pulled us down into the quilts again, and yawned and would sleep some more, until they found it was no use, and first one and then another kicked off the covers and sat up, too. The sun was high and all the birds and bees and squirrels were busy for the day. At least two hours had been wasted, already.