id,' rejoined the Raven--'a stout old lady, with a heart
to match the size of her waist;' and he flipped the penny back at the
treasurer.

'And you've brought the penny back!' cried Dick.

'Wouldn't tek' it nohow,' replied the other; 'said I was kindly
welcome.'

'Why, we needn't make any tea,' said Dick.

'Just wot I thought,' remarked his companion; 'that's tea an' sugar
saved at a bang. Bread, milk, an' 'edgehog ought to fill us out aw'
right this time. Now, what about gettin' the bed ready afore we have
supper? After supper I may be busy for a bit.'

'Right you are,' said Dick; and they turned to their first attempt of
making a scout's bed.

The farther end of the hanger was composed of a thick growth of
larch-trees, and here there had been a fall of timber in the winter.
Two or three lots of logs had not yet been carried away, and the two
scouts chose four logs of fairly suitable length for the framework of
their couch, and pegged them into position. They could soon have
chopped the logs to the right length, but they did not do so, for that
would have been damaging other people's property, and no scout acts in
such a way as to raise difficulties for those who may come after him.

When the woodmen had felled the larches they had stripped off the
branches and cut away the plumy tops with their axes, and heaps of
branches and tops lay about among the remaining trees. With axe and
knife the scouts cut great armfuls of the tips and carried them to the
framework. Here they laid them to overlap each other like the slates
on a roof, as Mr. Elliott had shown them, and within an hour they had a
dry, springy bed, upon which they flung themselves, and rolled in
delight and kicked up their heels for a minute or two.

'One little job agen before supper,' said Chippy, 'but it'll only be a
short un. I want two or three minnows, an' I saw a place wheer they
wor' swimmin' in hundreds.'

The scouts ran down to the river, and Chippy pointed to a shallow where
a great shoal of the tiny fish were glancing to and fro, their sides
glittering as they turned in the light of the setting sun. Chippy
throw himself flat on the bank, and very slowly and cautiously slipped
his hand into the water. The minnows darted away, but soon returned,
and the scout, with a swift, dexterous scoop, tossed a couple high and
dry on the bank, where Dick secured them. A second attempt only landed
one, but it was a good-sized one, and Chippy s