Yes, it was surely Ty, and he did not seem to be suffering to any great extent. There was evidence of a grin hovering around the corners of his mouth. Evidently Ty was the one who had crawled hastily under the canvas of the tent after that fearful yell had awakened the entire party. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth," and Ty knew that he was probably in for a good raking, after giving his mates so great a scare.
"Hey, he's got him!" declared Landy. "Elmer knew where to find him. See here, did you let off that awful whoop, Ty Collins?"
"I s'pose I did," replied the culprit, meekly. "I was dreaming about that old bull, you see. Thought I was sitting up there between his horns, and he was just gallivanting around the whole country with me, jumpin' fences and all that. Then we came to a barn, oh, as high as the church steeple at Hickory Ridge; and as sure as you live if that critter didn't make straight for the same. I felt him rising in the air like a balloon, and then I think I must have let out a squawk, fellers."
"Listen to him, would you!" cried Landy; "he calls that a squawk! Why, it sounded like a whistle for down-brakes on the track; or else a feller falling over a precipice ten thousand feet deep! And he's got the nerve to say it was only a little squawk, just like a chicken would give!"
"Well, if you'd been dreaming like I was, you'd holler too," argued Ty. "Say, I reckon I scared myself pretty bad too, for I crawled out of the back of the tent in a big hurry, and tried to hide in the bushes. Then I heard you talkin' and it struck me what I'd done. Didn't feel much like walkin' in after that; but Elmer, he came and convinced me."
"No great harm done, boys," said Elmer. "And as Ty didn't mean to frighten anybody, we'll have to let him off this time."
"Yes, if he'll promise not to repeat the dose, we might," grumbled Landy.
"Don't believe him, if he does, because he won't keep his word," declared Doubting George.
"Well, what sort of remedy would you suggest?" asked Ty, indignantly.
"Gag him; that's the only way," returned George; "and even then I think he'd find a loophole to let out another howl. Ty always could whoop it up better than any other fellow at school. That's why they made him the cheer captain when he couldn't get in the football game on account of a sprain."