have you come to save us? Give us somethin' to eat, won't you?
We're starvin', starvin', I tell you!"

CHAPTER XXVII

"FIRST AID"

Possibly the case was not quite as bad as Hank declared, but for all
that those four lads were certainly in a bad way.

Paul took charge of affairs at once, as became the acting scout-master
of the troop.

"It's a good thing we thought to pick up some wood as we came along,"
he remarked. "Fetch it in, boys, and get this fire going the first
thing. Then we'll make a pot of coffee to begin with."

"Coffee!" echoed the four late prisoners of the cave. "Oh, my stars!
why! we went and forgot to bring any along with us. Coffee! that
sounds good to us!"

"That's only a beginning," said Bobolink, as he came back with his
arms filled with sticks, which he began to lay upon the almost dead
fire. "We've got ham and biscuits, Boston baked beans, potatoes, corn,
grits, and lots of other things. Just give us a little time to do some
cooking, and you'll get all you can cram down."

Paul knew the hungry boys would suffer all sorts of tortures while
waiting for the meal to be cooked. On this account he saw that they
were given some crackers and cheese, to take the keen edge of their
voracious appetites off.

It was a strange spectacle in that hole amidst the rocks, with the
fire leaping up, Bobolink bending over it doing the cooking with his
customary vim, the rest of the scouts gathered around, and those four
wretched fellows munching away for dear life, as they sniffed the
coffee beginning to scent the air with its fragrance.

As soon as this was ready Paul poured out some, added condensed milk,
and handed the tin cup to Hank.

He was really surprised to see the rough fellow turn immediately and
give it to Sid Jeffreys and hear him say:

"I reckon you need it the wust, Sid; git the stuff inside in a
hurry."

Then Paul remembered that Sid had recently been injured. And somehow
he began to understand that even such a hardened case as Hank Lawson,
in whom no one seemed ready to place any trust, might have a small,
tender spot in his heart. He could not be _all_ bad, Paul decided.

Hank, however, did not refuse to accept the second cup, and hastily
drain it. Apparently, he believed the leader should have first
choice, and meant to impress this fact upon his satellites.

What to do about the four boys had puzzled Paul a little. To allow
them to accompany him and his chums back to De