ingly they first of all led the old woman to where the others
were making as comfortable a camp as the meager conditions allowed. It
turned out that the little lame girl, Mabel French, knew her very well,
and addressed her as Mrs. Jacobus. She took occasion to tell Max aside
that the old lady had lived alone for many years, but that instead of
being poor as she seemed, in reality people said she was very rich,
only eccentric. Perhaps she had a history, Max thought, as he looked
at the wrinkles on her face, and noticed the kindly eyes, and wanted to
hide her pain away from a cruel world.

He and Bandy-legs proceeded to drag the boat up to a point above the
cabin, and then pushing out, headed for their goal. The current was
fully as swift as before, but as they had taken all proper precautions
they did not have a great deal of difficulty in making it.

Once they had secured their boat by the kitchen door, and they entered,
wading with the water up to their waists. As soon as they had entered
Bandy-legs gave a wild cheer.

"Great governor! look at the fine ham hanging from the rafters, with
strings of garlic, and all sorts of things!" he cried out. "You
rummage around in closets, Max, while I'm climbing up, and grabbing
that same smoked pork. Say, the country is saved, and those poor girls
can have something worth while to eat. I've learned a new way to fry
ham without even a pan; though chances are we'll be able to pick up
something along that line in the kitchen here."

They did, and all sorts of other things besides, which Max fancied the
girls could make use of, and which were really in danger of being lost,
if the cabin was carried away. He rooted in every cupboard, secured a
lot of dishes and tinware, knives, forks and spoons, even a loaf of
bread and some cake that he found in a japanned tin box high up on the
shelf of a closet, coffee, sugar, and condensed milk, butter, potatoes,
onions and a lot of other things too numerous to mention, but which
attracted the attention of the hungry boys.

Bandy-legs was fairly bubbling over with delight, and kept declaring
that it was the greatest picnic ever known. All the perils of the past
had apparently vanished from his mind, and he was as happy as any one
could be over the prospect of enjoying a regular camp meal by the glow
of a jolly woods fire.

"Guess we'd better hold up about now, Max," he went on to say, when
they had piled the stuff in the boat until