“I can show you in two minutes, better than any book,” declared Phil. “This is how you want to start,” and then, with a napkin, some string and a couple of knives and forks he proceeded to illustrate the not always easy task of setting a wall tent.
The girls thought they understood it. Then came other advice about settling the camp, how to arrange the stores, what to buy, how to put up the cots, distribute the blankets, put up the fly, to keep out both sun and rain, and many other details.
In the days that followed—and busy ones they were—the girls completed their arrangements. They wrote on ahead for a supply of food that could be kept in stock, and were glad to learn that a not too distant lake-shore village would supply them when needed, a butcher and grocer coming around in a boat to take orders, for Green Lake was a favorite camping-site for many.
“And we start to-morrow!” exclaimed Mabel, as she and her chums had gathered at her house for a last consultation.
“Yes, isn’t it glorious!” cried Natalie. “I’m just dying to roam through the woods in that Indian costume.”
“Be careful some modern brave doesn’t run away with you,” cautioned Alice.
“I’d like to see him,” asserted Natalie.
“You won’t; he’ll probably capture you after dark,” challenged Mabel.
“I wonder where I put it!” suddenly exclaimed Alice, as she began searching among a miscellaneous collection of articles on the bureau, where the girls had piled a number of purchases.
“What are you looking for?” asked Mabel.