and that the teacher was the most
active of all the five special committeemen.

They reached the sugar camp before the middle of the forenoon, although
the roads at that season were very heavy. Winter had by no means
departed, although a raucous-voiced jay or two had come up from the
swamp and scoured the open wood as though already in search of spring
quarters.

The Hammett sugar camp consisted of an open shed in which to boil the
sap and an old cabin--perhaps one of the first built in these New
Hampshire grants--in which dinner was to be cooked and eaten. Miss
Blossom Hammett was already busy over the pots, and pans, and bake oven
in the cabin; while her sister, the thin Miss Pussy, overseered the
sap-boiling operations.

It was a regular "bee", for beside the twins' hired hands, there were
several of their neighbors, and the visitors from Poketown were expected
to make themselves useful, too, the boys and Nelson Haley especially.

Janice joined the sap gatherers, for she was strong and liked exercise.
They carried buckets to collect the sap that had already run into the
shiny two-quart cups which were used to collect it.

First an incision was made through the bark and into the wood of the
tree. Into this incision was thrust a whittled plug that had a shallow
gutter cut in its upper side, and notches from which the bail of the
two-quart cup hung. Into the cup the sap dripped rapidly--especially
about midday, when the sun was warmest.

They tapped only about a quarter of the grove belonging to the old
ladies, for that numbered as many trees as could be handled at once.
Pail after pail of the thin sap was brought in and emptied into one of
the two big cauldrons, under which a steady fire of hickory and beech
was kept burning. Later the fire was started under the second pot, while
the contents of the first one was allowed to simmer down until the sugar
would "spin", when dipped up on the wooden ladle and dropped into a bowl
of cold water.

The old ladies supplied a hearty and substantial dinner for the young
folks to put away before the sugar was boiled enough to spin. After
that, the visitors gathered about the sugar troughs like flies about
molasses. The Hammett Twins were not niggard souls by any manner of
means; but they kept warning the girls and boys all the afternoon to
"save room for supper."

In truth, the supper down at the old Hammett farmhouse, after the work
of the day was over, was the principal