The Indians were each given a dog tent and two of the tarpaulins were turned over to them, and at some little distance away they soon rigged up something between a hut and a burrow of stones, sods, and brush, about ten feet square, the bottom of which they filled two feet deep with spruce and fir boughs. Over all they drew the tarpaulins and pegged them down. The boys watched curiously the gathering of the fir and spruce sprigs.
“Makes the finest spring bed in the world,” said Jim. “I’ve slept on it hundreds of nights, and there’s no mattress made that equals it. We’ll make up some for ourselves within a few days.”
Preparations for the night having been made, and a fireplace dug out of the bank of the creek near the water’s edge, and walled up with stones to some distance above the bank so that a perceptible draft was obtained, one of the boys was directed to bring from the stores a bright new copper kettle with a porcelain lining and a tight cover. Three flat stones were placed together and formed a support for the pot.
“Pepper,” said Swiftwater, “from this day to the time we go out, you are to be captain of the Kettle. You are to see that it is kept clean and filled with clear water from the creek at least once a day; that the water is boiled and that these water jugs are kept filled and corked. I want to ask the rest of you boys to drink, for a time at least, nothing but the water that our friend Pepper turns out; none from the creek. A man’s health in a new country depends a good deal on how the water hits him, and until you are acclimated it is the safest thing.” The Scouts readily promised to comply with the miner’s request, and Pepper feeling that the health of the camp was somehow in his charge felt not a little elated. He issued orders at once for a supply of firewood, agreeing to carry the water himself, which he did, filling the kettle which held about ten gallons. He put on so many small airs while the boys were bringing in the firewood and arranging it beneath the kettle that they began to dub him “Health Officer,” “Doctor,” and poke fun at him in several ways. Finally Dick came up and inspected the whole arrangement as if he had never seen it before, and said:
“Hello, Grandma, makin’ apple-butter or quince preserves?”
Pepper turned red but went on poking the fire. A minute or two later Gerald strolled by with:
“Auntie, can’t I have one of the doughnuts, now?”
Still Pepper struggled to preserve his temper and gave his whole dignified attention to his new duties until:
“Mamma, how long fo’ dat hog and hominy fit to eat?” and Rand dodged a stick of firewood, as the infuriated Captain of the Kettle turned back to the simmering pot. He was undisturbed for nearly an hour when Don strolled up with an ostentatiously small armful of sticks and stayed only long enough to ask:
“Seems to me that I smell braw parritch; or is it kail-brose ye would be steaming there, gilly?”