e secret stair, and that's not
easy to find. There never was such a place for fun."

Sandy had righted himself by this time and was gazing
ecstatically at the basket, which Jean had begun to unpack.
"Losh!" he cried. "Look, Jock! Bacon and eggs and scones! Oh, my
word!" Jock gave one look and whooped for joy.

"Keep still," said Alan. "Angus may be coming back this way, and
he has a gun with him. We're safe enough up here, if we keep
quiet, but if you go howling around like that, he'll surely hunt
for the noise."

For a moment they kept quiet and listened, but there was no sound
except the noise of the falling waters. "Huh!" Sandy snorted, "he
couldn't hear anything, anyway. The roar of the fall hides all
the other noises."

"Oh, let's eat!" begged Jock, caressing his empty stomach and
gazing longingly at the food.

"You can't eat now," said Jean; "the food must be cooked first,
and what shall we do for a fire?"

"We could make one right here on the rock," said Alan, "if we had
something to burn. I've got matches."

"We'll have to get twigs and dry pine-needles and broken
branches," said Jock, "and bring them up the secret stair, though
it'll be hard work getting them through the narrow places. We
ought to have a rope. We could pull a basketful up over the edge
of the rock as easy as nothing."

"We'll bring a rope next time," said Alan. "Hurry! I'm starving!"

The three boys disappeared down the secret stair, and while they
were gone, Jean found loose stones, with which she made a support
for the frying-pan around a space for the fire. The boys were
soon back with plenty of small fuel, and in a short time a bright
fire was blazing on the rock and there was a wonderful smell of
frying bacon in the air. The boys sat cross-legged around the
fire, while Jean turned the bacon and broke the eggs into the
sputtering fat.

"You look just exactly like Tam watching the rabbit-hole,"
laughed Jean. "I wonder you don't paw the ground and bark!"

At last the scones were handed out, each one laden with a slice
of bacon and a fried egg, and there was blissful silence for some
moments.

"Oh, aren't you glad you didn't die of the measles and miss
this?" Sandy said to Alan, rolling over on his back and waving
his legs in the air as he finished his third egg. Alan's mouth
was too full for a reply other than a cordial grunt.

"Why, Sandy Crumpet!" exclaimed Jean, reprovingly, "don't you
believe heaven is nicer than Scotl