“Worse than that!” was the hearty response.
“What does he look like?” Ted asked.
“Tall feller with a heavy shock of gray hair,” replied Farmer Crane. “Got a sort of a long face with deep black eyes. He looks like he was a drinker or something, because he looks worried all the time, least he did all the time I saw him.”
The supplies which the boys brought back with them from this trip was eagerly welcomed at the camp. Then they set to work to make some improvements in the camp itself. They cleared away undergrowth which was too close to the back of the tents. The small truck, which was marooned up on the dirt road was backed down into the camp by means of two sturdy ropes, its own brakes, and convenient stones. By snubbing the ropes around trees they were able to bear the strain of easing the truck down hill and in its new position it made a convenient storeroom. There was still the matter of the ice box.
“How you going to sink it?” Buck asked.
“Straight down in the cool earth beside the creek,” Ted told him.
“But the dirt is pretty soft there. How will you keep the sides from caving in and spoiling everything?”
“We’ve had some unexpected good luck,” Ted smiled. “Under the seat of the truck I found six large square pieces of tin, and although I don’t know what they were intended for, I am going to use them. I imagine that they were sent along in case we wanted to use them for a fireplace, but I guess the use won’t matter. I’m going to floor and wall the ice chest with that.”
With a camp shovel Ted and some of the boys dug a hole a good four feet down into the soft earth beside the creek and here they placed one square of tin as the flooring. On the sides they sheeted with the other pieces of tin, fastening them down with hand cut pegs which they drove right through the tin in the same fashion as nails. Except for a cover, the ice chest was complete.
The cover was constructed of sections of a packing box which they sheeted on the under side and finished off on the top with a wooden handle. When all this was finished they had a cool and serviceable ice chest which would never get hot or need ice. The perishable articles were lowered into it, the cover was placed on top at a depth of about six inches from the surface of the ground and the task was complete.