"Would it take long to fricassee them?" Addison asked.
"Oh, not very long," said Theodora.
"I can dress them off in ten minutes," said Willis, "if you don't insist on their being picked and will let me skin them instead; for I can take their skins off, feathers and all, in just one minute apiece."
"Go ahead," exclaimed Addison; "Tom, get dry wood from that drift-heap down by the brook and build a nice camp-fire; and Kate, you and Doad unpack the baskets and get the coffee-pot, tin kettle and frying-pan ready. While you are doing that, the rest of us can throw out those old yellow boughs from the bunks, then cut new ones and make the bunks all up sweet and fresh for night; and after that we will drag up a lot of wood for our camp-fire, through the evening."
"Shall we not keep a camp-fire burning all night?" Theodora asked.
"Oh, yes! let's not let the fire go out!" cried Ellen. "We're a dreadful ways from home, up here in the great woods! How many miles have we come, Ad?"
"About seventeen miles, all told."
"Yes; do let's have a good roaring fire all night," said Kate.
It quite frightened the girls to think how far they were from home, in the forest, now that the sun began to sink behind the tree tops.
"All right!" laughed Addison. "Gather lots of wood. It will take piles of it to burn all night."