never flagged; he brimmed with joy-in-life, vitality, and optimism. It
was as if he had some secret mental solace.

"Damn you and your sunny-side-up dope!" Ralph Addington growled at him
again and again. "Shut up, will you!"

One day Frank Merrill proposed a hike across the island. Billy Fairfax
who, at the head, had set a brisk pace for the file, suddenly dropped
back to the rear and accosted Honey Smith who had lagged behind. Honey
was skipping stones over the lake from a pocketful of flat pebbles.

"Say, Honey," Billy began. The other four men were far ahead, but Billy
kept his voice low. Do you remember that dream you had about the big
bird - the time we joshed you so?

"Sure do I," Honey said cheerfully. "Only remember one thing, Billy.
That wasn't a dream any more than this is."

"All right," Billy exclaimed. "You don't have to show me. A funny thing
happened to me last night. I'm not telling the others. They won't
believe it and - well, my nerves are all on end. I know I'd get mad if
they began to jolly. I was sleeping like the dickens - a
sure-for-certain Rip Van Winkle - when all of a sudden - Did you ever
have a pet cat, Honey?"

"Nope."

"Well, I've had lots of them. I like cats. I had one once that used to
wake me up at two minutes past seven every morning as regularly as two
minutes past seven came - not an instant before, not an instant after.