at's all this?" asked Mr. Starr, suspicious of the twins' mischief.

"Lil' Doot hang oop there," replied Mike, not knowing how she got there,
or that he was leading Don into punishment.

"Don, what _does_ this mean?" insisted Mr. Starr, sternly.

"Well, you see, Daddum, Dot and I know all about engines, so we thought
we would help the men clean away these little trees," Don started to
explain.

"Yes, and try to see just how much fun and daring you could get out of
it!" remarked his father.

When the whole story was told, Don's father reprimanded him severely,
and Don promised never to be so venturesome again.

CHAPTER VI

OUTDOOR FUN IN A LUMBER CAMP

SNOW and ice prevailed after the middle of November, and the cold was
there to stay for the winter. The roads already cut out had frozen hard
before the snow came, and that made easy travelling for the huge sledges
that carried the timber from forest to riverside.

The men were now cutting close to the main road, and the walk from camp
to cutting was not so tiresome for the ladies and children, and it often
happened that they visited the men in the afternoon.

The children had toy hatchets and saws, and they loved to play about the
felled trees, chopping off small branches or sawing off rough fragments.
Then, too, it was fine sport to be lifted up on top of a high heap of
huge logs and ride down to the river-bank. On the return trip they would
sit down on the low braces of the sledge, and the horses would make
quick time with no load to pull.

One Saturday morning the sun shone so brightly that Mrs. Starr said the
children might go with Mike, to play near the cutting, but they must
keep a long distance away from the actual work of the men.

The men had come across a dip in the forest which was filled with
water, and this water had frozen solid during the past week. The trees
had been cut before the ice was hard, and here was offered a nice spot
for skating. The children slung their skates over their shoulders and
planned hockey games, and tag, and other sports on the ice. When they
beheld the pond, however, they soon realized that it would be impossible
to play hockey, but tag! Yes, tag would be great fun, as the stumps
stuck up through the ice, here and there, and the skater could dodge
around these stumps to get away from the one who was "it."

Babs had her tiny shovel and hatchet to play with, and Mike sat down on
a log to watch over the children.