Captain's Order No. 1.—Any order given by the Captain must be obeyed by the person to whom it is addressed, unless his reason for not doing so will not keep till camping-time; merely not liking the duty is no excuse.
Captain's Order No. 2.—The Captain will say when and where camp shall be made, and immediately upon stopping to camp the duties of each person shall be taken up as follows: the Captain shall secure the boat, get out the tent, and proceed to set it up; Tug shall take the axe and get fuel for the fire; Kate shall see to the building of the fire and the preparation of food; Jim shall help Kate, particularly in carrying articles needed, and in getting water; and all, when these special duties are finished, shall report to the Captain for further duty.
Captain's Order No. 3.—Any complaints or suggestions must be made in council, which will commence after camp work is completed and supper is over, and not before.
"There," said Aleck, "do you agree to that?"
"Yes—agreed!" shouted three voices in chorus.
"Then pitch in, all of you; you know your work."
At this Tug seized the axe, Aleck and Jim went to the sledge, and Katy began to kindle a little blaze on the hearth with some bits of dry wood she found lying about, so that when Tug had brought an armful of sticks, a good fire was quickly crackling. Then the iron pot, full of water, was hung upon the old spike, where the blaze began curling around its three little black feet in a most loving way.
"Jimkin," called the girl to her brother, who was gazing with delight at the bright fire, "Jimkin, bring me all those paper packages at the stern of the boat, and be careful of the white one—it's eggs."
"I guess there won't be much tent to set up to-night, Aleck," he remarked, as he found the Captain, who had hauled the sledge well up on the bank and tied it securely to a tree, now busy in dragging out the sail.
"No," was the reply, "but the canvas'll come handy. Tell Tug I say he'd better get a big heap of wood together, for we're going to have a cold night. The wind has turned to the north, and is rising."
When he had taken the canvas up to the cabin, he called Jim to help him, and they brought in the mess chest, the rolls of bedding, and the piece of spare canvas which had covered the prow. Then, telling Jim to take the little sled that had been dragged behind the boat, and haul to the door the wood Tug had cut among the trees not far away, Aleck seized the shovel and began heaping snow against the northern side of the house, where there were many cracks between the lower logs. But his hard work to shut them up in this way seemed to be in vain, for the wind, which was blowing harder and harder every minute, whisked the snow away about as fast as he was able to pile it up. Kate, stepping out to see what he was about, came to his rescue with a happy thought.