“Everything’s here just as we left it!” said Peggy, pleased, as Jack shone his torch around. “Oh, there’s the kettle, Jack - and I want a saucepan, too, for the soup to-night and eggs to-morrow morning. Dimmy put some into the box. Look, there’s the rabbit-skin rug we made last year - and the old blankets and rugs too. Bring those, Jack, we’ll need them to-night.”
Jack piled the rugs in his arms. Peggy took the kettle and the saucepan. They went back to the outer cave, and then looked for the others outside. Mike had got a good fire going. Paul was sitting beside it in delight. He had never seen a camp-fire before.
“Nora, get the cocoa tin, a bag of sugar, and the tinned milk,” said Peggy. “Mike, go to the spring and fill this kettle with water, will you? I’ll boil water for the cocoa and we’ll add milk and sugar afterwards.”
Mike went off with the kettle to the cold spring that gushed out from the hillside and ran down it in a little stream. He soon filled it and came back. “What are we going to have to eat?” he asked hungrily.
“Soup out of a tin, bread, biscuits, and cocoa,” said Peggy.
“Oooooh!” said everyone in delight. Mike opened the tin, glad that Dimmy had remembered to put in a tin-opener! He poured the rich tomato soup into the saucepan, and then set it on the fire firmly. “Shall I make another fire to boil the kettle?” he asked.
“Oh no,” said Peggy. “The soup will soon be ready, and we’ve got to cut the bread, and get out the biscuits. You do that, Nora. Where’s the biscuit tin, Mike?”
The soup cooked in the saucepan. Peggy sent Jack for cups and dishes and bowls and spoons from the inner cave. The kettle was put on to boil. Peggy cleverly poured the soup from the saucepan into the dishes and handed a plateful to everyone. Hunks of bread were given out too. The kettle sang on the fire, and the smoke rose in the moonlight and floated away in the clear air.
“This is simply perfect,” said Mike, tasting his tomato soup and putting big pieces of bread into it. “I wish this meal could last for ever.”
“You’d get pretty tired of tomato soup if it did!” said Jack. Everyone laughed. Peggy made the cocoa and handed round big cups of it, with tinned milk and sugar, and a handful of biscuits for everyone.