.

In the morning the rain was still falling, rather to their dismay, for
they had expected that the storm would soon pass over. The thunder and
lightning had ceased, the wind had subsided, and the rain had turned
into a steady downpour that looked as if it meant to last all day.

"We'll have to find or build a shelter," remarked Sahwah, thrusting her
head, turtle like, from under the edge of the canoe and scanning the
heavens with a calculating eye. "This is a regular three days' rain. Who
wants to come with me and see if we can find a cave? I have an idea
there must be one among the rocks on the hillside just farther on. Who
wants to come with me?"

"I'll come!" cried Hinpoha and Jo and Agony and Katherine all in a
breath. Cramped from lying still so long, they welcomed the prospect of
exercise, even in the early morning rain.

Leaving Migwan and Gladys to keep Miss Amesbury company, the five set
out into the streaming woods, and Katherine and Hinpoha and Sahwah came
back half an hour later to report that they had found a cave and Jo and
Agony had stayed there to build a fire.

"Fire, that sounds good to me," remarked Gladys, shivering a little as
she got into her damp bathing suit and drew her heavy sweater over it.

Carrying the beds, still wrapped up in the ponchos, the little
procession wound through the woods under the guidance of the returned
scouts. The guides were not needed long, however, for soon a heart
warming odor of frying bacon came to meet them, and with a world-old
instinct each one followed her nose toward it.

"Did anything ever smell so good?" exclaimed Hinpoha, breathing in the
fragrant air in long drawn sniffs.

"Those blessed angels!" was all Miss Amesbury could say.

A moment later they stepped out of the wet woods into the cheeriest
scene imaginable. In the side of a steep hill which rose not far from
the river there opened a good sized cave, and just inside its doorway
burned a bright fire, lighting up the interior with its ruddy glow. On a
smaller fire beside it a pan of bacon was sizzling merrily, and over
another hung a pot of steaming coffee. To the eyes of the wet, chilly
campers, it was the most beautiful scene they had ever looked upon. They
sprang to the large fire and toasted themselves in its grateful warmth
while they held up their clothes to dry before putting them on.

"Thoughtful people, to build us an extra fire," said Miss Amesbury,
stretching out luxuriously on the