die had already gulped
down some twenty pages of the poison and would not listen to reason.
There was a duchess in the book, and I knew immediately from the lame
excuses he made for this person that she was not at all a proper
associate for Eddie, especially in this remote place. I pleaded in vain.
He had overtaken the duchess on the third page, and the gaud of her
beauty was in his eyes. So it came to pass that while I was following
gentle little Alice and the White Rabbit through a land of wonder and
dreams, Eddie, by the light of the same candle, was chasing this
butterfly of folly through a French court at the rate of some twenty
finely printed pages every night, translating aloud here and there,
until it sometimes became necessary for me to blow out the candle
peremptorily, in order that both of us might compose our minds for
needed slumber.

Perhaps I am dwelling unnecessarily upon our camp detail, but, after
all, the tent, with its daily and nightly round becomes a rather
important thing when it is to be a habitation for a period of weeks of
sun and storm; and any little gem of experience may not be wholly
unwasted.

Then there is the matter of getting along without friction, which seems
important. A tent is a small place, and is likely to contain a good many
things--especially in bad weather--besides yourselves. If you can manage
to have your things so the other fellow will stumble over them as
infrequently as possible, it is just as well for him, and safer for you.
Also, for the things. Then, too, if you will make your beds at separate
times, as we did, one remaining outside, or lying in a horizontal
position among his own supplies while the other is in active operation,
you are less likely to rub against each other, which sometimes means to
rub in the wrong direction, with unhappy results. Of course forbearance
is not a bad asset to have along, and a small measure of charity and
consideration. It is well to take one's sense of humor, too, and any
little remnant of imagination one may have lying about handy at the
moment of starting. Many a well-constructed camp has gone to wreck
during a spell of bad weather because one or more of its occupants did
not bring along imagination and a sense of humor, or failed to produce
these articles at the critical moment. Imagination beautifies many a
desolate outlook--a laugh helps over many a hard place.

Chapter Seventeen

_Oh, the pulses leap where the fall