Camping -- Fiction; Manners and customs -- Fiction
"Come," said her husband, "we must look into this."
In two minutes the Archibalds had met the new-comers, who advanced with
outstretched hands, as if they had been old friends. Mr. Archibald, not
without some mental disquietude at this intrusion upon the woodland
privacy of his party, was about to begin a series of questions, when he
was forestalled by Margery.
"Oh, Uncle Archibald and Aunt Harriet!" she exclaimed, "Mr. Clyde and Mr.
Raybold have come out here to camp. Their camp is right next to ours, and
it is called Camp Roy. You see, some years ago there was a large camping
party came here, and they called the place Camp Rob Roy, but it was
afterwards divided, and one part called Camp Rob and the other Camp Roy."
"Indeed!" interrupted Mr. Archibald. "Mr. Sadler did not tell us that ours
was only half a camp with only half a name."
"I don't suppose he thought of it," said Margery. "And the line between
the two camps is just three hundred feet above our cabin. I don't suppose
anybody ever measures it off, but there it is; and Mr. Clyde and Mr.
Raybold have taken Camp Roy, which hasn't any house on it. They started
before daybreak this morning, and brought a tent along with them, which
they have pitched just back of that little peninsula; and they haven't any
guide, because they want to attend to their own cooking and everything,
and the man who brought the tent and other things has gone back. They are
going to live there just like real backwoodsmen, and they have a boat of
their own, which is to be brought up from the bottom of the lake
somewhere--I mean from the lower end of the lake. And, Aunt Harriet, may I
speak to you a moment?"
With this the young woman drew Mrs. Archibald aside, and in a low voice
asked if she thought it would be out of the way to invite the two young
men to take breakfast with them, as it was not likely they had all their
cooking things in order so early.
Five people sat down to breakfast under the great oak-tree, and it was a
lively meal. Mr. Archibald's mental disquiet, in which were now apparent
some elements of resentment, had not subsided, but the state of his mind
did not show itself in his demeanor, and he could not help feeling pleased
to see that his wife was in better spirits. He had always known that she
liked company.
After breakfast he took Matlack aside. "I don't understand this business,"
said he. "When I hired this camp I supposed we were to have it to
ourselves; but if there are other camps jammed close against it we may be
in the midst of a great public picnic before a week is out."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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