"It will be moonlight to-night, and we can easily skate twenty or
twenty-five miles," suggested Ham.

"So we can, Ham. Let us do it, and--_fix things_."

"We will," said Ham firmly.

As soon as it was settled that our friends were to go away before
Christmas, and remain away over the holidays, they received from their
parents several gifts in advance. All obtained snowshoes--picked out
for them by their old hunter friend, Jed Sanborn--and they also
procured an extra gun, an extra sled, and some warm camp blankets.
They still possessed their old camp outfit and so it was an easy
matter to gather the things together and get everything ready for the
start. The outfit was packed upon two good-sized sleds and well
fastened.

"I suppose we ought to have skated up to the camp and inspected
things," observed Snap. "But I have been too busy to do so."

"Oh, I reckon everything is as we left it," answered Whopper.

"The camp was all right two weeks ago," said Jed Sanborn, who chanced
to be present. "Of course you'll have to fix up some kind of a chimney
in the cabin, for you can't keep your fire outdoors in this weather."

"It's as much fun to fix up the cabin as it is to camp out," said
Shep, and the others agreed with him.