sports had already seized hold of these Chester
boys, and in the fall they hoped to put a sturdy eleven in the field
that would be a credit to the town.

Besides this other sports were mentioned, especially those having an
intimate connection with the season of snow and ice. Lake Constance
offered a fruitful field for iceboating; and there could hardly be a
finer stream than the crooked Paradise River when it came to skating
distances during a Saturday, or in the Christmas holidays.

So the time passed. They had actually cleaned out the coffeepot and both
fryingpans of their contents, but at least no one could ever complain of
getting up hungry in that camp--not while Steve had anything to do with
the cooking. His flapjacks had turned out to be a big success, and Toby
in particular was loud in praise of them; though by the way he winked at
Jack when declaring them the best he had ever devoured, barring none, it
was plainly evident that he was saying this partly in the hopes that the
gratified Steve would repeat the dose frequently.

"This will never do," said Jack, finally; "we have too much on hand this
morning to be loafing here. First we'll get the dishes out of the way,
and then arrange programme for the work. By noon I expect to have things
more ship-shape."

The others were eager to assist, and presently every one had his hands
full. The big tent was raised in better shape than could be done in
their hurry of the preceding evening. Then all their stock was gone
over, some of it placed securely away in the covered wagon until needed,
and the rest kept handy for immediate use.

A dozen different artifices were carried through, each intended to make
things more comfortable and handy. Plainly Jack knew ten times as much
about the business of camping-out as either of his chums; and they were
only too pleased to take lessons from him, being eager to "learn all the
frills," as Toby said.

And just as Jack had predicted when noon came they had most of these
innovations carried through, so that the afternoon could be used for
other enterprises as the humor suggested.

CHAPTER IV

TAKING A LOOK AROUND

Toby had evidently been making up his mind about something, for they had
hardly finished a cold lunch when he turned to Jack and remarked:

"I've got a hunch there ought to be some mighty good fishing over there
in the river, do you know, Jack? I fetched my stuff along, and would
like ever so much to make