Katherine and the Captain were cooks that morning and had the job of
getting breakfast while the rest took an early dip in the lake. It was
the first week in July. Three days ago Ellen's Isle was an uninhabited
wilderness and the only sound which broke the stillness of its dark
woods was the rushing of the wind in the pine trees, or the lapping of
the water on the little beach. Moreover, it bore the plebian name of
Murphy's Island, after the president of the ill-fated Mineral Spring
Water Company. Then one day had changed everything. A procession of
boats had set out from St. Pierre, the little town on the mainland,
which was the nearest stop of the big lake steamer, headed straight for
Murphy's Island and unloaded its cargo and crew on the beach, who
formally took possession of the island by setting up a flag in the sand
right then and there.

The invading fleet was composed of two launches, one very large and one
smaller; five rowboats fastened together and towed by the one launch,
and five canoes towed by the other. The crew comprised two men and two
women, six merry-eyed girls and six jolly boys. The explorers had
evidently come to stay. They immediately set about raising tents and
nailing down floor boards, clearing spaces for fires and setting up pot
hangers, repairing the landing pier and setting up a springboard, and in
a hundred other ways making themselves at home. Two tents were set up at
each end of the island; these were the sleeping tents, one pair for the
men and boys and the other for the women and girls. These were
completely hidden from each other by the thick trees in between, but the
dwellers in one settlement could make those in the other hear by
shouting.

Besides these tents another larger one was set up in a little open
space; this was the kitchen and dining room for bad weather use. In fair
weather the campers always ate outdoors. They cooked over open fires as
much as possible, because driftwood was plentiful, but there were two
gasoline stoves and two alcohol heaters in the kitchen tent. The outdoor
kitchen was just outside the indoor kitchen, and consisted of a bare
spot of ground encircled by trees. The "big cook stove" was two logs
about ten feet long, laid parallel to each other about a foot apart. The
space between the logs was for the "frying fire," and the ease with
which a whole row of pans balanced themselves and cooked their contents
to a turn in record time gave proof of its pr