"That's right," said Master Harry Taylor, "each Boy Scout must do his part when camp is to be made."
Several lanterns had been brought with them, and, by the light of one, Rick and Tom gathered some wood outside to make a fire on the hearth. Chot and Sam did what they could to set the interior of the log cabin to rights, and Mr. Taylor opened the bundles of food and filled the oil stove from a kerosene can he had brought with him.
Each boy had a "mess" outfit, consisting of tin cup and plate, a knife, fork and spoon and a small frying pan. Chot had borrowed an outfit from a boy friend, for Rick, as Ruddy's master, was not yet a Scout.
In a little while a fire was blazing on the hearth, and the steaks which had been brought were being cooked by Mr. Taylor over the hot embers. He decided to do this himself rather than trust the boys, for if the meat were spoiled in the broiling some one would have to go hungry, no extra supply having been provided. The coffee was made on the oil stove.
"Say, this is fun!" exclaimed Rick, as they sat about the old table and ate off their tin plates. "I didn't think being a Boy Scout was half so jolly!"
"Oh, you haven't seen a quarter of it!" declared Chot. "Wait until you camp out in the open; eh, Mr. Taylor?"
"Yes, that is quite different from this," answered the Scout Master. "This is quite a luxury, having a log cabin, even if it is an old ramshackle one."
"Oh, I'm going to do this every time I have the chance," said Rick. "But just now I want to find Ruddy."
"And we're here to help you," said Mr. Taylor, who though older than any of the boys was still "one of them." If he had not been he would never have developed into a good Scout Master. "I think the best we can do," he added, "is to keep watch. As you boys said, the junk man will probably come back, either to-night or early in the morning, to get his horse and wagon. When he does we will ask him what he did with Ruddy."
"I think the sailor took him," Rick said.