"Isn't he the bossy thing?" drawled Dave. "Pitch in, fellows, I've got an inspiration for a poem, and—"
Four hands seized the poet laureate, four sturdy arms hustled him to a standing position.
"Going to join in the housekeeping?"
"Yes, yes," laughed Dave. "Let up, Sam Randall and Dick Travers, or I'll souse you both in the river."
Cleaning up was finished in short order.
The boys decided to turn in early, for they knew that they had a long day before them.
Beds required some time to make, on account of the inexperience of the young woodsmen. A log was placed at the head of each and over this fragrant twigs of hemlock and other firs. The stems were kept as much to the bottom of the layer as possible, the boys continuing their work until the beds were thick enough to insure comfort. The finishing touches consisted in spreading rubber blankets, which being finally accomplished, the Ramblers were supplied with beds that one and all declared to be the best they had ever used.
When night enveloped the scene and the cheery light of the fire had died away, the fringe of woods looked very black and mysterious. An old oak, with gaunt, spreading arms, assumed in the dim light a weird and fantastic appearance, while stumps and bushes, which, before, they had scarcely noticed, seemed like so many motionless figures of threatening mien. Nor were the nocturnal noises reassuring. The dismal hoot of an owl came from the woods, the strange cry of a loon sounded faintly from afar, twigs snapped sharply, and faint rustlings, almost like footsteps, now coming, now going, mingled with the musical soughing of the trees, as they bent their branches to the will of the capricious breeze.
It must be confessed that decidedly creepy feelings stole over the Ramblers, which were not lessened when the rising moon appeared over the tops of the trees. It had never looked quite so grim to them before, nor did the pale, ghostly beams straggling over the ground impress them in just the same way as those they had seen in town.
But in spite of all this, one by one, they dropped into a refreshing slumber.