we must, but what?" declared Joan.

"Well, some of us will hunt up the mushrooms; some must gather bracken,
some, the lichen; and Gilly can hunt up the coffee beans, _alias_ roots
and acorns," said Alec.

"What will _you_ be doing, meantime?" retorted Mr. Gilroy.

"Oh, I'll just remove that package of flour from your pocket and use
this strip of bacon that I lifted from Dandelion larder; and when the
steaks come back, I'll have bread and fat ready over a fine fire."

"Bacon! When did you manage to steal that?" demanded the Captain,
amazed.

The boys laughed, for Alec's clever sleight-of-hand was an endless
source of fun for them.

"Don't all hunt together. Divide your strength and see that results come
back with you," advised Alec, rolling up his sleeves preparatory to
starting his fire.

"I can't fish like the other boys, so I'll go with the girls who are
going for the beefsteaks," said Dick.

"All right. And where will you go, Captain?" asked Alec.

"If Gilly is sent for coffee, I shall hunt for tea. I do not care for
his brand of coffee, but I _do_ know where to find the ingredients for
a nice fragrant cup of tea."

A laugh circled the group, and Mr. Gilroy said, "All right. Now see to
it that you don't ask for a drop of my coffee, hereafter."

So they separated, some of the scouts going with Mrs. Vernon; Bob and
Ned going for trout; Hester and Amy with Mr. Gilroy; and Julie, Joan and
Judith with Dick, for mushrooms.

After breaking a way through a dense jungle, the latter four scouts came
out to a small clearing, but they had not seen any mushrooms.

"What a fine baseball diamond this clearing would make!" said Julie, as
they looked around.

"And there are some chestnut stumps--on the far side of the clearing!"
exclaimed Dick, crossing to the spot.

But they found no mushrooms on the stumps, much to their chagrin.
"There'll be other trees about here, where we're sure to find what we
need," said Dick, eagerly.

So into the woods they plunged, winding about here and there, but not
finding what they sought. None of them thought to blaze a trail as they
wandered, consequently had no means of telling how far or in what
direction they had gone before Dick found a few small mushrooms.

"Only enough for a few of us. We need more than these," he remarked.

"There's sure to be more where these are. Let's keep on hunting," urged
Julie.

So they kept on winding through the underbrush, but with no good