tling to shelter, every hole
proved the mouth of a burrow, and that was too much for them to
attempt. They worked clean round the coppice, saw dozens of rabbits,
but were never within a mile of catching one; at last they came back to
their camp.

'It strikes me, Chippy, we shall have to divide the scraps we've got
left, tighten our belts, and strike out for the next baker's shop.'

'Looks like it,' murmured the Raven. 'I'm jolly thirsty too.'

'So am I,' said Dick; 'let's see if we can find a pool of clear water
in the swampy patch yonder.'

They went down to the little marsh, but though there was plenty of
water, it all appeared thick and uninviting. Being scouts, the boys
were very careful of what water they drank, and they looked
suspiciously on the marsh pools.

'No drink nayther,' said the Raven; 'we'd better get a start on us for
a country wheer there's things to be got.'

'Wait a bit, Chippy,' replied his comrade. 'I think I know a dodge to
get round this, if we only had a spade to dig with. It's a trick my
Uncle Jim put me up to. He often used it when he was travelling in
Africa.'

Dick explained what was to be done, and the Raven nodded.

'If that's all there is to it,' remarked the latter, 'I'll soon find
the spades.'

He returned to the camp, seized the tomahawk, and began to cut at one
of the pieces chopped off the rails. In five minutes of deft hewing
Chippy turned the broad, flat piece of timber into a rude wooden
shovel. Dick seized it with a cry of admiration.

'Why, this will do first-rate, old chap,' he asid. 'The ground is
pretty sure to be soft.'

'Go ahead, then,' said the Raven. 'I'll jine ye wi' another just now.'

Dick went down to the swamp, and chose a grassy spot about twenty feat
from the largest pool. Here with his knife he cut away a patch of turf
about a couple of feet across; then he went to work with his wooden
spade on the soft earth below. In a short time Chippy joined him, and
the two scouts had soon scraped a hole some thirty inches deep. From
the sides of the hole water began to trickle in freely, and a muddy
pool formed in the hollow. Dick now took the billy, and carefully
baled the dirty water out. A fresh pool gathered, not so dirty as the
first, but still far from clean. This, too, was baled out, and a third
gathering also. Then the water came in clear and cool and sweet, and
the scouts were able to drink freely.

Chippy was warm in his praise o