asy matter to hold what might be termed the
first meeting of the club. Besides the originators there were present
Messrs. Fairleigh, Hanford and Brazier. After Steve had locked the door
to prevent interruption, he presented to the newcomers a summary of the
scheme. It was received with enthusiasm and unanimous approval, but Neil
Fairleigh and Oscar Brazier sadly admitted that in their cases parental
permission was extremely doubtful. George Hanford, whose parents were
dead and who was under the care of a guardian, thought that in his case
there would be no great difficulty. The other two viewed him a trifle
enviously. Then, because one may always hope, they had to hear the
particulars and each secretly began to fashion arguments to overcome the
objections at home. Finally Oscar Brazier inquired interestedly:

"Who is going to cook for you?"

"Oh, we'll take turns, maybe," answered Joe. "Or we might hire a cook."

Joe stole a look at Steve. Oscar only shuffled his feet.

"I say hire," remarked Perry. "Any of us could do it after a fashion, I
dare say, but you get frightfully hungry on the water and need good
stuff well cooked, and lots of it."

"Yes," agreed Steve, "any of us would make an awful mess of it.
Cooking's an art."

Oscar cleared his throat and frowned. "You'd have to pay a lot for a
cook," he said. "It isn't hard, really. I could do it--if I were going
along."

"That's so," George Hanford confirmed. But the rest seemed
unflatteringly doubtful. The silence was almost embarrassing. At last
Joe said hurriedly:

"Well, we don't have to decide that now. Besides, if you can't come with
us--um--" His voice trailed off into a relieved silence. Oscar smiled
haughtily.

"That's all right," he said. "If you prefer a cook, say so. Only, if I
did go I'd be willing to do the cooking, and I'll bet I could do it as
well as any cook you could hire. Isn't it so, Han?"

"Yes, I call you a mighty nifty cook, Ossie. I've eaten your biscuits
more than once. Flapjacks, too."

"Well," said Joe politely, "camp cooking is um--different, I guess, from
regular cooking. Of course, I don't say Ossie couldn't do it, mind you,
but--we wouldn't want to take chances. On the whole, I think it would be
best to have a regular cook."

"We might let Ossie try it," suggested Perry judicially.

"Oh, I'm not crazy about it," disclaimed Oscar, piqued. "If you prefer
to pay out good money for a cook--"

"Not at all," interrupted Steve