"Why not stop work and cook a few steaks?" suggested Bob.
"You boys have done all the talking about something to eat, but the girls said nothing. Maybe they are not hungry!" ventured Mr. Gilroy.
"Hungry! We're too weak to speak," sighed Julie, rubbing the spot under her belt.
"I can eat reindeer moss without its being cooked," said Amy.
"That settles it! Cook we must, but what?" declared Joan.
"Well, some of us will hunt up the mushrooms; some must gather bracken, some, the lichen; and Gilly can hunt up the coffee beans, alias roots and acorns," said Alec.
"What will you be doing, meantime?" retorted Mr. Gilroy.
"Oh, I'll just remove that package of flour from your pocket and use this strip of bacon that I lifted from Dandelion larder; and when the steaks come back, I'll have bread and fat ready over a fine fire."
"Bacon! When did you manage to steal that?" demanded the Captain, amazed.
The boys laughed, for Alec's clever sleight-of-hand was an endless source of fun for them.