“That’s probably why I didn’t hear it,” Townsend yawned. “Where are you going to get dry wood?”
“Didn’t you see me roll that piece of log under the tent last night?” Pee-wee asked him. “That’s one of the things you always have to do first of all in case it rains next day. Now where would you be if I hadn’t brought my belt-axe?”
“I’d be in tears,” said Townsend. “We haven’t got much gasoline to burn. We might fry some griddle-cakes on the engine I suppose. I wonder if we could beat eggs with the fan? You start getting things ready while I trot over and wake Liz up.”
He soon returned, reporting that the car was all right and better for sleeping in the fresh air. He found Pee-wee valiantly demolishing the small end of the log which he had thoughtfully put under cover the night before. A merry little fire was soon blazing away under a tree, defying the rain.
And pretty soon the fragrant odor of coffee permeated the damp air. If you ever hear any one say anything against coffee tell him that he has probably never been stalled in a little tent in the woods on a rainy day. If he continues to talk against it, don’t listen to him, walk away. He is like a man who would slander a life preserver.
Some people put an egg shell in coffee, and I think that is good. But a spool of linen thread is not so good. Pee-wee used a spool of linen thread in his coffee. At all events there was a spool of linen thread in the coffee-pot and several emergency buttons.
“Are these supposed to flavor it?” Townsend asked.
“They happened to be in there,” said Pee-wee.
“Hadn’t we better strain it for needles and hooks and eyes and things?”
“Don’t you know scouts have to economize space?” Pee-wee shouted. “You put one thing in another when you’re packing camping things. See if there’s a bottle of ink in it.”