gazing longingly at the food.

"You can't eat now," said Jean; "the food must be cooked first,
and what shall we do for a fire?"

"We could make one right here on the rock," said Alan, "if we had
something to burn. I've got matches."

"We'll have to get twigs and dry pine-needles and broken
branches," said Jock, "and bring them up the secret stair, though
it'll be hard work getting them through the narrow places. We
ought to have a rope. We could pull a basketful up over the edge
of the rock as easy as nothing."

"We'll bring a rope next time," said Alan. "Hurry! I'm starving!"

The three boys disappeared down the secret stair, and while they
were gone, Jean found loose stones, with which she made a support
for the frying-pan around a space for the fire. The boys were
soon back with plenty of small fuel, and in a short time a bright
fire was blazing on the rock and there was a wonderful smell of
frying bacon in the air. The boys sat cross-legged around the
fire, while Jean turned the bacon and broke the eggs into the
sputtering fat.

"You look just exactly like Tam watching the rabbit-hole,"
laughed Jean. "I wonder you don't paw the ground and bark!"

At last the scones were handed out, each one laden with a slice
of bacon and a fried egg, and there was blissful silence for some