"And Fred Martin, lieutenant," said Shiner. "They both know what to do and we don't."
This was agreed to without a word of objection from any of the fifteen. Bobby took charge at once.
"Here are four trees," he announced, pointing to four that stood almost in a square, some twelve feet apart, and with nothing but saplings in the square made by them. "These will be our posts. First we want to clean out all the small trees and brush inside these big trees, and for some feet around the outside—so we can work."
"Wish we had more axes," said Fred.
"We all have knives. Those with knives can cut off the smaller brush. Skeets is really our only woodsman. Come on, Skeets, and let's find four good trees for the cross-timbers."
They were all soon very busy. Bobby did little but show the others what to do and make measurements with a piece of fishline. Fred gave his attention to cutting spruce boughs for walls and roof.
Skeets cut the four trees needed, they were measured and notched at the ends and then lifted into place—each end in a crotch of the low branching trees Bobby had selected for the corner posts of the hut.
The roof would not be exactly flat, for one crotch was somewhat higher than the others, but the four timbers lay firm, being lashed together with black-birch withes.
Soon the other boys began to bring the spruce boughs; but first Bobby laid several good sized saplings across the string-pieces, to strengthen the roof.
They worked so hard and with such enthusiasm that they really forgot the potatoes under the bonfire. In two hours a heavy roofing of boughs lay upon the poles, and the boys could all stand up under it and be sheltered.