to the very centre of the hot embers. Instantly a circle of
flames rose high about him and the air was charged with the fumes of
burning flesh.

"Oh, oh!" shrieked Billie. "Help! Help!"

They did what they could to save the remnants of Mock Duck. Ben singed
his eyebrows in an effort to spear him on a fork and raise him from his
fiery bed. They were all very quick but the flames were quicker, and
when at last Mock Duck was lifted from the embers his form was no longer
recognizable and the surface of his outer covering was burned to a
cinder.

The two little Gypsy cooks wept with disappointment. They had worked so
hard and were so hot and tired and hungry.

Their friends were consumed with pity.

"There, there," cried Dr. Hume, too tender hearted to look upon tears
without being moved. "Don't cry, little cooks. Look at all this nice
gravy and these delicious vegetables."

"Why, my dearest children, you mustn't mind," exclaimed Miss Campbell.
"See what a beautiful mixture we can have. Pour the gravy right into the
platter with the beans and onions. We'll eat it on bread."

How callous do the most fastidious become after a few weeks in camp!

"Come, come, there's no time to be lost," exclaimed the starving Percy.

But the two disappointed cooks had nothing to say. They choked back
their tears and fell to with an appetite on beans and onions
ingloriously mixed with bread and gravy. And as a final delicacy, the
campers, who had commenced with dessert and salad, finished off with two
very delicious mealy potatoes apiece.

"If we stayed in this wilderness long, we'd revert to savages," Miss
Campbell remarked, stirring a large cup of black coffee. "But on the
whole, I think I am enjoying the reversion and my appetite is getting
better every day."

"If I were starving in the wilderness and somebody offered me Mock Duck,
I'd refuse it," ejaculated Billie irrelevantly, for nobody had mentioned
mock duck for a long time.

THE BALLAD OF MOCK DUCK.

(Poem by Percy.)

There was a haughty animal,
Lived in a meadow fine;
A domesticated lady
Of the genus called bovine.

Like many other females,
Beast or human or divine,
This domesticated lady
Of the family of kine

Gazed with rapture at her features,
As reflected in a brook,
When with unblushing ecstasy
Each morn she took a look.

As she smiled at her reflection
In the mirror of the stream,
She indulged in gentle rev'ries
Of complacency suprem