"We'll try old Hemlock Grove first. There should be plenty of green stuff
there," replied Ned.

"Yes, and if I mistake not," added Nat, "there is in those woods a
cabin--old Hume's place. We may be able to lay out there for dinner."

"Goody!" exclaimed Roger, whose eyes had been continually on the big
basket of stuff which Norah, the good-natured cook at The Cedars, had put
up for the boys.

"Right," concluded Ned; "there's a chimney and all. Just the place for a
layout. Let me see, where did that shanty used to stand?"

"I see something like a cabin over there," said Joe, pointing to a corner
in the woods where great oak trees towered above all others in the grove.
Even in December some brown leaves clung to these giants of the forest,
that now rustled a gentle welcome to the boys in the Fire Bird.

Ned swung up as close as the wagon road would allow, and presently the
party had "disembarked," and were scampering through the woods toward the
abandoned hut of an old woodchopper.

"Great catch!" exclaimed Tom. "If there is one thing I like it is an
outdoor hut with an indoor place on a cold day."

"We've got a bag of charcoal, you know," Roger reminded them, for Norah
had secretly given that part of the equipment to Roger personally.

"That's right," assented Ned, "Then run over to the car and fetch it.
Norah is an all-right girl, isn't she?"