ss shoe was made primarily to assist us in exploring some boggy
land a short distance up the river from our island. The original swamp
shoes were made from the bottoms of two old baskets, and they worked so
admirably that it was decided to equip the whole society with them.
Uncle Ed, when told about them, informed us that that was the kind of
snow shoe used in Switzerland. Of course, we could not afford to destroy
a pair of baskets for each member of the club, and so we had to weave
the shoes from the willows which grew on the island.

CHAPTER IV.

TENT MAKING.

We had a farewell meeting of the society the evening before Bill and I
had to return to boarding-school. At this meeting plans were made for
the Easter vacation. We also considered the matter of getting parental
permission for our summer outing. So far we had been afraid to breathe a
word of our plans outside of the society, since Fred had said something
about it in the presence of Father and had been peremptorily ordered to
banish all such hair-brained, Wild West notions from his head. We
realized from that incident that the consent of our parents would not be
so very easily obtained. But Bill came forward with a promising
suggestion. He would write to his Uncle Ed and see if he couldn't be
persuaded to join the expedition. At first we demurred. We didn't want a
"governor" around all the time. But Bill assured us that his uncle was
"no ordinary man"; that he would not interfere with our plans, but would
enter right into them and give us many valuable pointers. Though not by
any means convinced, we told him to go ahead and invite his uncle, as
that seemed about the only means of winning over our fathers and
mothers. The society was then adjourned until our Easter vacation began,
each member promising to earn and save as much money as he could in the
meantime to buy the materials for a tent and provisions for the summer
outing.

Word From Uncle Ed.

[Illustration: Fig. 37. Breadths sewed together for Roof and Side Walls
of Tent.]

Bill's letter to Uncle Ed was answered as quickly as the mail could
travel to Brazil and back. Uncle Ed heartily approved of our plans, and
said that he would be delighted to join the expedition. He could not be
on hand before the 1st of July, but that would give us plenty of time to
make all necessary preparations. He told us not to worry about gaining
the consent of our parents. He would write to them and see them a