"No one. We will feed them scraps and they can scratch!" promptly replied Julie.
"You'll starve them and then they won't lay any eggs," now said Alec, joining the party.
"We'll smile on Hiram and get him to bring us some corn from the barn, now and then," said Ruth.
"I came over to tell you dinner was ready to serve. We had better go now, and eat it while it's good," said Alec.
The boys had various things hanging over the fire, but the great novelty that caught the girl scouts' attention, at once, was the roaster upon which a nice brown chicken was swinging before the fire.
"There! That's a fine idea. How did you make it?" asked Mrs. Vernon, looking closely at the contraption.
Alec described to the Captain the method of making the roaster. "We took a forked stick, as you see there, of about a two-foot length. We drove that down into the ground about six inches. Next we took a long pole, six or eight feet long, and drove the end down into the ground just back of the short stick with the forks. It rested in the crotch made by the forks so that its tapering end slanted upward at an angle, as you see here.
"From the end of this long pole we hung the cord that holds the chicken. Wire is just as good to use. Then we arranged that flat, paddle-like fan halfway between the top and the rope end where the roast will hang. As your chicken roasts before the fire, that mill-fan keeps it perpetually turning about so it browns alike all over."
Julie wanted to make one like it as soon as they went back to their own camp, so she hastily sketched a model.
"It is a great stunt, all right, and we've cooked many dandy roasts this way, and never scorched any," said Bob, when Alec concluded his description.