g
in the water, and tried to get it. The muskrat didn't want to be caught,
so it fought back. But I'm glad it got away without being hurt, and I'm
glad Splash wasn't bitten."

"What's a muskrat?" Sue wanted to know.

"Well, it's a big rat that lives in the water," said Daddy Brown. "It is
much larger than the kind of rat that is around houses and barns, and it
has fine, soft fur which trappers sell, to make fur-lined overcoats, and
cloaks, for men and women. The fur is very good, and some persons say
the muskrat is good to eat, but I would not like to try eating it. But
this muskrat was a big one, and as they have sharp teeth, and can bite
hard when they are angry, it is a good thing we drove it away."

Bunny and Sue looked out over the lake. They could see the muskrat no
longer, though there was a little ripple in the water where it had dived
down to get away.

"Now we must finish putting up the tents," said Daddy Brown. "It will be
night before we know it, and we want a good place to sleep in at Camp
Rest-a-While."

"And are we going to have a fire, where we can cook something?" asked
Bunny.

"Yes, we'll have the oil stove set up."

"I thought we would have a campfire," said the little boy.

"So we shall!" exclaimed Uncle Tad. "I'll make a campfire for you,
children, and we'll bake some potatoes in it. We'll have them for
supper, with whatever else mother cooks on the oil stove."

"I'll get some sticks of wood for the fire!" cried Sue.

"So will I!" added Bunny.

And while the older folk were finishing putting up the tents, and while
Mother Brown was getting out the bed clothes, Bunny and Sue made a pile
of sticks and twigs for the fire their uncle had promised to make.

Soon the big sleeping tent was put up, and divided into two parts, one
for Sue and her mother, and the other for Bunny and the men folk.
Cot-beds were put up in the tent, and blankets, sheets and pillows put
on them, so the tent was really like a big bedroom.

"It will be nicer sleeping here than on the ground, like we did in the
tent at home that night," said Bunny to Sue.

"Yes, I guess it will," she answered. "My dollie won't catch cold in a
nice bed."

"Did she catch cold before?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Well, she had the sniffle-snuffles, and that's almost like a cold," Sue
answered.

In the second-sized tent the dining table had been set up, and the
chairs put around ready for the first meal, which would be supper.
Mother