in the driver's seat was Brad Henshaw, Dr. Lyman's chauffeur. Several of
the boys found room for themselves on the running board; the others went
on their motorcycles, which were to be brought back in the car, for there
was no safe place in camp for such things.

It was with considerable groaning and grumbling that the home-made
automobile finally got under way, but when she was safely started the
rest of the expedition followed in her wake, and trundled on toward their
destination.

A little after sun-up found the lads at the lake shore. Here "Old Nanc"
and the cycles were halted, for there was no chance of her making her way
along the uneven wood road that skirted the lake for half a mile before
it turned and entered the heart of the forest.

At this point the scouts detrained, as it were, and deposited all their
luggage on the ground. Then, having unloaded the automobile, they
proceeded to reload her, this time with her brood of gasoline-fed
ducklings. This done the outfit was turned over to Brad again who
immediately started back to Woodbridge.

For an hour after the departure of the automobile the scouts were as busy
as bees carrying their paraphernalia to the camp site which they had
picked out on the lake shore at the point where the wood road turned and
entered the forest. Here was a little stretch of high ground that had
been partly cleared by wind-falls and Bruce and Jiminy had selected it as
an ideal location for the camp and site for the troop's future log cabin
headquarters.

With practically three patrols at work it did not take the lads long to
clear away the underbrush and fallen logs in the open space. Indeed the
whack, whack of their hatchets and the heavier cluck, cluck of their axes
could be heard on all sides of the clearing and in a surprisingly short
time a big space had been made ready for the camp. Dozens of young
cedars and fir trees were felled for the lean-tos and in short order the
lads were busy with hammers and nails putting up the frame-work of six of
these shelters.

They worked with a will and the little forest settlement grew apace.
After the frame work of the structures was completed the scouts set to
work with clasp knives and hatchets and stripped the cedars and firs of
their branches. Then with this material they began to thatch the sides
and roof of the lean-tos working the twigs in and out until they formed a
thickly matted protection against the weather. They wo