ng up through pure, white
sand, and had formed a deep basin, over the lower edge of which the
crystal water went rippling away through the thicket.

"We'll put our tent right here," said Charley, indicating a level spot
beside the spring basin. "We'll have to clear away some of the bushes to
make room for it. We can use what we cut as a screen, though nobody would
ever see a tent away in here, especially one of brown khaki, like ours."

He drew his little axe and began clearing a space for the tent, cutting
the rhododendron stems a little below the surface of the ground. Lew piled
the branches at one side. Then the tent was dragged in and set up, the
rope being used as a ridge and tied to two strong saplings. The sides of
the tent were squared and pegged down.

"Drive the pegs tight, Lew," directed Charley. "We don't want to have
anything crawling under the sides. Thank goodness, we have a sod cloth."

After they had completed this task and set about bringing in the duffel,
Charley remarked, "We can't go in and out this way, on our hands and
knees. We've got to make a path. We'll find the best way out and trim the
bushes so that we can walk upright."

"We'd better not make the path straight," said Lew. "If we zigzag it,
nobody will know it really is a path."

After they had picked out a level route they trimmed back the rhododendron
branches so that they could walk through the thicket, though the branches
at the very edge were left undisturbed. The cut branches were added to
the screen about the tent. Then the duffel was carried in and stowed in
the tent.

"What bothers me," said Charley, "is to know how to put up our aerial. We
don't dare hang it up where it can be seen, and I don't know how well it
will work among these hemlocks."

"All we can do is to put it up and try it," said the ever practical Lew,
"and the sooner we do it the better."

Quickly they had their wires suspended between two hemlock trees. The
aerial reached almost from trunk to trunk, and the wires were completely
hidden by the branches that stood out all about them.

"If she'll work," commented Charley, "it's a peach of an arrangement.
Nobody would discover that aerial in a hundred years. I can hardly wait
until evening to test it out."

"Willie might be listening in again to-day," suggested Lew. "It will take
him several days to get that new outfit made. We'll try him on the hour."

"Good idea, Lew." He looked at his watch. "It's ten m