th, to cheer every one up.

"Well, it's going to break mighty quick! See that inky cloud scudding
across there?" exclaimed Amy, pointing at the sky.

"Verny, why not make a quick shelter to crawl under?" suggested Anne.

"Think you can do it?" answered the Captain.

"Hester's got the rubber cover that Mike gave us for the canoe when it
is not in use, and we might stretch that between four trees," added
Anne.

"That's so. Let's try it!" agreed Hester, eagerly.

Quickly, then, the scouts chopped down the scrub bush where four young
trees were found for the corners, and then, while Anne and Hester
secured the four corners of the cover, the other girls ditched around
the spot so the rain would run off and not soak their camping place.

Anne and Hester completed their work before the others, and then hastily
bunched a mass of chopped-down bushes all around the temporary tent to
break the driving rain when it came. The spot thus enclosed was not
large, but by huddling together they managed to keep dry.

"How nice it is to sit in a dry place and watch everything else
gradually soak with the rain," ventured Amy, comfortably.

"No one would have dreamed that a shower would come up to-day, the
weather was so perfect when we left camp," said Judith.

"Do any of you girls understand weather-lore?" asked Mrs. Vernon.

No one did, so the Captain continued: "If you study wind and cloud,
wildwood creatures and other animals, you will find much to interest you
in the weather.

"When rain is coming you will see the sheep turn their tails to
windward, but if the day is to be fine the sheep will graze with faces
to the wind.

"Cows always gather and huddle together at a sheltered end of the
pasture lot when a storm is approaching. Cattle are restless and uneasy
before a storm breaks. And cows will fling up their heels, or sheep will
gambol as if to make the most of the sunshine just before a prolonged
spell of bad weather. Pigs, too, will grunt loudly and cavort about
uneasily in their pens, carrying bits of straw from their bedding in
their mouths, before a heavy rainstorm.

"With wild creatures you will find partridges sitting in the fields when
thunder is in the air. But the moment the storm blows over, the birds
are alive with energy again. Rabbits and other night-feeders can be
found out hunting on a sunny day, but that means there will be a wet
night.

"Most of our birds in field and forest know when a storm is brew