ng, he would hike with us, and we'd rather wait
for him, and swim first. But it doesn't matter now."

"We'll go for the hike first, and when we get back a fine, cool swim
will feel good," suggested the Orderly for the day.

"Verny, do you know of any places one might choose for an objective on a
hike?" asked Joan.

"Yes, Mr. Gilroy gave me a county map that shows every good trail within
twenty miles of here. I'll get it and we'll look it over." So saying,
the Captain went to her tent for the paper.

They all sat about Mrs. Vernon as she studied the map and read aloud of
various trails that sounded interesting. At last she said: "Here's one
that seems inviting. It is named 'River Bend,' and the trail winds along
one of the streams that is an outlet of our lake. The description says
the blazes are old but distinct, and no one can miss the may. Shall we
try that trail?"

"Where does it end?" questioned Hester.

"How long is it to anywhere?" asked Anne.

"It's seven miles, and forks when one reaches the hut of an Indian
canoe-builder. One fork runs to River Bend village, and the other to a
ravine that is said to be most picturesque."

"We'll take that trail and decide which place we prefer to see, the
village or the ravine, after we have hiked a while," said the Orderly.

"Why not take a little flour and fat and catch some fish at noon, and
sup while on the trail?" asked Julie.

"Why not carry our dinner stuff and have a _regular_ meal while we are
about it," said Anne, who could not forego a dinner.

The other scouts laughed, and Mrs. Vernon replied, "All right, it sounds
inviting."

So each scout carried a tin cup and platter, while the Orderly saw to it
that each one carried part of the dinner material. It fell to the
Captain's lot to carry the frying-pan, and to Anne to carry the
two-quart pail; the others had the flour, bacon, potatoes, etc.

River Bend trail led down to the end of the lake, where the stream
started. It wound in and out, as it followed the uneven edges of Little
Moose Lake, running over mossy knolls, through rivulets, past
waterfalls, and around impassable obstructions. Thus the detouring added
greatly to the distance the map had vouched for.

The scouts had paper and pencils in case they wished to sketch anything
interesting, but most of the paper was used in writing notes along the
way, to be entered later in their records. They had gone about two miles
when Julie stopped short and h