"Hooray!" joined in Yan, with even more interest though with less unrestraint.
"But howld on, I ain't through—"
"I say, Da, we want your gun. We can't go camping without a gun."
"Howld on, now. Give me a chance to finish. Ye can go fur two weeks, but ye got to go; no snakin' home nights to sleep. Ye can't hev no matches an' no gun. I won't hev a lot o' children foolin' wid a didn't-know-it-was-loaded, an' shootin' all the birds and squirrels an' each other, too. Ye kin hev yer bows an' arrows an' ye ain't likely to do no [253] harrum. Ye kin hev all the mate an' bread an' stuff ye want, but ye must cook it yerselves, an' if I see any signs of settin' the Woods afire I'll be down wid the rawhoide an' cut the very livers out o' ye."
The rest of the morning was devoted to preparation, Mrs. Raften taking the leading hand.
"Now, who's to be cook?" she asked.
"Sam"—"Yan"—said the boys in the same breath.
"Hm! You seem in one mind about it. Suppose you take it turn and turn about—Sam first day."
Then followed instructions for making coffee in the morning, boiling potatoes, frying bacon. Bread and butter enough they were to take with them—eggs, too.