"Hey, you! Hurry with that coffee pot!" he shouted. "We want to
start it boiling."

"Then come and get it," replied his father.

But Tom had already picked it up and was carrying it toward the
camp fire, which was blazing cheerily beneath the big tree. Taking
the bridles, Mr. Wilder soon followed.

Larry had spread a blanket on the ground for a tablecloth and
arranged the plates, knives and forks. In the middle he had made a
pile of doughnuts and around them set three pies.

To Bill had fallen the task of cooking, and he was busy frying eggs
and bacon in a long-handled pan, which he rested on a bed of coals.

At the sight of Tom and the coffee pot, he called:

"Tell Horace to pour some water into the drinking cups, put the
coffee in the pot and set it in the fire. Supper'll be ready
before the coffee unless you hurry."

But Tom was not a boy to shirk work, and directing his brother to
bring the cups, he sent his aide for the coffee while he prepared a
good hot bed of coals.

The odor from the sputtering bacon whetted their appetites, and all
but Bill devoted their energies to hurrying the coffee and to such
good purpose that they disproved the old saying, "A watched pot
never boils."