ox. 'Here you are,'
said Dick. 'Mutton fat. I boiled it down myself. Grand stuff to rub
on your feet if you get a sore place, but we haven't wanted it yet.'

'No, we ain't tenderfeet,' grunted the Raven.

'Hope not,' said Dick. He opened the box and smelled the contents.

'Has it gone bad?' asked his companion.

'Not a bit of it,' replied the Wolf; 'sweet as a nut. Here's a lump
for your pan.' And he dug out a piece of the solid mutton fat with his
knife.

The eels were washed and skinned, and soon were hissing and spluttering
delightfully in the mutton fat in the billy. The two biggest eels,
weighing more than half a pound each, were treated in this manner, and
proved quite as good as Chippy had promised. While the hungry scouts
devoured them, some smaller ones were set on to boil, for the Raven had
heard boiled eels were good also, though he hadn't tried them. So the
billy was rubbed round and three parts filled with water, and on went
some more eels in a new form of cookery. When it came to the test of
eating, the scouts did not think the boiled were quite so tasty as the
fried, but they vanished before their raging appetites, and the two
boys ate every eel they had sniggled.

They built up their fire and turned in before the daylight had gone,
for they were fatigued by the long journey they had made that day.

'If a scritch-owl turns up this time,' chuckled Chippy, 'we'll just
turn over and let 'im scritch.'

'And if a jackass rambles round, we won't be frightened and make three
instead of one,' laughed Dick.

About one in the morning Dick was aroused from sleep by finding that he
was very uncomfortable. The bed lacked the support of the side-logs,
and the pine-tops had worked loose, and Dick had worked through them,
and was lying on the ground. His hip-joint was aching, and the
discomfort had awakened him.

'Hallo,' thought Dick, on recognising what had happened, 'I've reached
the bottom shelf. I shall have to dig that little hole about the size
of a teacup which B.-P. recommends for you to tuck your hip-joint in.'
He turned over on his back and lay still for a few moments.

The night was very still and bright, and the moon was low down in the
west, but clear, and shining strongly. The Raven was soundly asleep,
and his breathing was deep and regular. Dick sat up and looked at the
fire. It had burned down to a mass of embers hidden under a coating of
ashes. He rolled out of his blanket