"Codfish and crullers! You don't say so!" came from Whopper. "I knew I was getting hollow somewhere. What shall we do—-go ashore and cook dinner?"
"Might as well," came from Snap. "Our time's our own, remember.
We haven't got to hurry."
"I know just the spot, about quarter of a mile from here," said Shep. "Our family once went there for a picnic. There's a good spring of water there and a hollow for a fire, and everything."
"Pantry full of dishes and a tablecloth, I suppose," broke in the irrepressible Whopper. "I do love a picnic ground where you can pick napkins off the bushes and toothpicks, too."
The boys pushed the rowboat on its way and soon reached the spot that Shep had mentioned, and there they tied up at a tree-root sticking out of the river bank. Beyond was a cleared space and a semi-circle of stones with a pole in two notched posts for a fire and kettle. They soon had a blaze started and Whopper filled the kettle at the spring and hung it to boil.
"This is just a taste of what is to come," said Snap. "At this meal we'll have our sandwiches, cake and some hot coffee. It will be different when we broil our deer meat, or something like that, and make hot biscuits."
"And roast our bear steaks," put in Whopper. "Just wait till you see the bear I shoot!"
"He means the bear he runs away from," said Shep, and this caused a laugh.
As soon as the water was boiling they made coffee, and then all sat around to enjoy their first meal in the open. The adventures of the morning had given them all good appetites, and they did not stop until the entire allowance had disappeared.
"No more just now," said Snap. "We must keep something for supper and for breakfast, you know. After that we have got to live on regular camp fare."