laboured in its erection. It really answered the purpose admirably,
and looked quite like a conventional California kitchen; that is, it
was ten feet square, and contained a table, a stove, and a Chinaman.

The young people, by the way, had fought bitterly against the stove,
protesting with all their might against taking it. Polly and Jack
declared that they would starve sooner than eat anything that hadn't
been cooked over a camp-fire. Bell and Philip said that they should
stand in front of it all the time, for fear somebody would ride
through the canyon and catch them camping out with a stove. Imagine
such a situation; it made them blush. Margery said she wished people
weren't quite so practical, and wouldn't ruin nature by introducing
such ugly and unnecessary things. She intended to point the moral by
drawing a picture of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden,--Eve bending
over a cook-stove and Adam peeling apples with a machine. Geoffrey
scoffed at Margery's sentimentalism, put on his most trying air, and
declared that if he had his pork and onions served up 'hot and
reg'lar,' he didn't care how she had her victuals cooked.

They were all somewhat appeased, however, when they found that Dr.
Winship was as anxious as they for an evening camp-fire, and merely
insisted upon the stove because it simplified the cookery.
Furthermore, being an eminently just man, he yielded so far as to
give them permission to prepare their own meals on a private camp-
fire whenever they desired; and this effectually stopped the
argument, for no one was willing to pay so heavy a price for effect.

The hammocks, made of gaily-coloured cords, were slung in various
directions a short distance from the square tent, which, being the
family sitting-room, was the centre of attraction. It was arranged