preparing for supper.

"Rah, rah, rah!" rose joyously on the air. Then, out of the woods
behind the camp appeared eight young men in multi-colored raiment.
Gorgeous bands surrounded their straw hats; their blazer coats
resembled so many rainbows. Yet, apart from their coats of many
colors, these young men were smartly dressed, and it was plain
that they carried with them considerable of an estimate of their
own importance. Their average age appeared to be about twenty-one
years.

"Rah, rah, rah!" rang the chorus again. Then one of the eight,
moving in advance of The others, called back:

"Fellows, what have we here?"

"Gipsies!" called another.

"Plain hoboes!" from a third.

"It's a gang of juvenile desperadoes escaped from some reformatory,"
declared a fourth.

"Rah, rah, rah!"

With noisy yells the eight young men descended upon the camp.

"Don't you think you'd better steer off?" called Dave, putting
himself as much as he could in their way.