to peck savagely at the chain around its leg; or it might be a snore
from Bumpus, or some other fellow who had a fashion of lying squarely on
his back.

Perhaps pretty soon, when one of the scouts had been kept awake by this
noise until patience ceased to be a virtue, he would get quietly up, and
pour a tin-cup of lake water over the one who persisted in sleeping with
his mouth wide open; for that sort of radical remedy had proven
effective on other occasions, and brought relief.

It must have been almost midnight when a sudden change came about that
took even the seasoned campers by surprise, for they had not been
anticipating any such startling event.

The stillness was broken by a piercing scream that caused every head to
bob up, and the blankets to be hurriedly thrown aside.

"My owl's mate has come in on us, mebbe!" exclaimed Step Hen; for that
idea was so firmly lodged in his brain that it had to occur to him as
soon as he heard all that row.

But some of the others were wiser, for they knew that shout had surely
come from human lips.

Giraffe was the first to call out and draw their attention to certain
facts.

"Looky there at old Bumpus dancing a jig, will you! Whatever ails the
feller, d'ye think! Acts like he'd clean gone out of his head, and got
loony!" he cried, as with the other boys he came tumbling out from under