lack hare turned back
over their necks and Sholders.' I'll say they had plenty to do, writing
and hunting and making speeches. It wasn't any pleasure party, when you
come right down to it, now!"

"We haven't found George Shannon yet," interrupted Jesse, dryly.

"Give us time!" answered Rob. "I vote to stay here all night. I can see
the blue smokes of their council fires, and see the men dancing, and the
painted Indians sitting around, and the great council pipe passing--red
pipestone, with eagle feathers on the stem; and meat hanging in camp,
and the squaws cooking, dogs yelping, drums going. Oh, by Jove! Oh, by
Jove! Those were the things to make you sit up late at night! I wish
we'd been along."

"We _are_ along!" said Uncle Dick, soberly. "If you can see those
stirring scenes, we are along. So, Rob, as you say, we'll pitch our camp
and dream, for at least a day, of our own wonderful America when it was
young."

John and Jesse were busy clearing a place for the tent. "I want the fire
right close up to the tent," said John, "and we don't want to burn off
either a tent pole or an overhead guy rope."

"Oh," rejoined Jesse, the youngest of them all, "I'll show you how to do
that!"

He dug into his war bag and brought out a roll of stout wire. "Run this
from the top of the front pole on out, ten or twelve feet, and stretch
it over a couple of shear poles. See? That'll stiffen the tent, and yet
you can build a fire right under the wire, and it won't hurt it any."

"A good idea, Jesse," approved their leader as he saw this. "A mighty
good idea for cold weather--about as good as your open fireplace of
sheet steel with a stovepipe--open wider in front than behind, and
reflecting the heat into the tent. I've tried that last invention of
yours, Jess, and it works fine in coolish weather. We'll try it again,
maybe."

"I'm making me a new kind of airplane now," said Jesse, modestly. "It's
different in some ways. I like to sort of figure things out, that way."

"That's good. And to-night, son, I want you to see whether you can't
figure out a nice fat catfish on your set line. We need meat in camp;
and that's about what it'll have to be, I suppose."

Thus, talking together of this thing and that, they made their own
comfortable camp, spreading down their own buffalo robes on the ground
for their beds, on the old council ground of the Sioux. They had a
hearty supper and soon were ready to turn in, for the mosquitoes were