It may be thought that such a task as was now given to the two young fellows would take but a little while to complete. But when they came to make the list of which the Professor had spoken they discovered that they were often in doubt. For instance, with regard to the question of ammunition.
'Twelve rounds apiece for magazine pistols, ditto for rifles,' said Dick, as if he had been at this sort of work a long while.
'More!' exclaimed David, with a knowing wag of his head. 'There might be a ruction; we might be attacked.'
'Pooh! Never did come across such a firebrand,' laughed Dick. 'Always imagining that we are going to run our heads up against some sort of trouble. Still, if you think so, we'll carry more. Say forty rounds each. How's that?'
'Right; far more sensible. Now for grub. My word, we mustn't run short of that!'
David was always a good man at his trencher. The open-air life they were now leading, the novelty of his surroundings, and the exercise he enjoyed had given him an appetite there was no denying.
'Of course we might shoot something,' he said, 'though we haven't seen much so far that would be worth the while. Besides, in this queer country one hardly knows what it would be proper to kill and what not. The Professor says one has to be careful not to touch other people's belongings, and the latter are often straying about. Vote we make our list of stores a handsome one.'
In the end they took sufficient tinned meats to last them for two weeks, having reckoned that the journey would not take longer than eight days. A small bottle of brandy was included in their stores, rice for Jong, a bag of biscuit, and a box of dried apples.
'Makes a splendid sweet,' declared David. 'Soak 'em over night in water, or milk if you can get it. Same with the rice you mean to use. Then put the two into a cloth, tie up the top and pop the whole into a kettle. Boil it, my boy, till the rice is done to a turn, and serve it with a sprinkling of sugar. That reminds me--tea's wanted, sugar too, and don't forget a kettle, a frying-pan, and a saucepan.'
'Besides tin mugs, a teapot, spoons, forks and knives.'
'And a filter to pass the water through. Can't be too careful,' said David. 'Water supplies in this country are not often too reliable, and though one can be quite secure by drinking boiled water, yet one hasn't always the time, nor the fuel, so we'll take a filter.'