r, which she handed to Tom. Grace took Tom's
hat from him and did the fanning while her husband was bathing Hippy's
face. The rain had become a misty drizzle and the wind had died out
entirely, but the trees were dripping moisture that soaked into the
clothing of the Overland Riders more effectively than had the downpour
of a few moments before.

It was nearly half an hour before Lieutenant Wingate regained
consciousness, and it was some little time later before he could hold a
sitting position, for his head was swimming.

"Had we better not get him under his tent?" asked Grace.

"If there is a tent left, yes. You folks will remain right here until I
return. I am going over to the camp," replied Tom.

"Is there danger?" questioned Grace anxiously.

"I think not. I shall not be gone more than a few minutes."

Tom took his pocket lamp with him, leaving the Overlanders in the dark,
for their own lamps were in their packs in the tents. Tom, however, came
back inside of fifteen minutes.

"How is the camp?" asked Elfreda.

"There isn't any camp," answered Tom.

"Wha--at?" gasped the Overlanders.

"It hit me and went on into the river," groaned Hippy. "Voice of
nature," he added in a mutter, but no one laughed.

"Our camp was pitched in the travoy way. The storm loosened the supports
of the skidway and let the logs down. Several hundred thousand feet of
them rolled over our camp and mashed it flat. A good part of the timber
went on into the river. The rest of it is scattered all the way along
the travoy."

"What! All our provisions gone?" wailed Hippy.

"No. They were strung up high enough to be out of the way," spoke up
Grace.

"You are wrong, Grace," differed Tom. "A log must have ended up and
broken the rope. At least the rope is broken and most of our supplies
appear to have been carried away. We are now back to first principles.
We must either go back for fresh supplies or live as the forest wanderer
lives, rustling for our grub as we go along. The first thing to be done
is to build a fire."

"Fine! I should like to see you do that with everything soaking wet,"
laughed Elfreda.

"We shall see," replied Tom. "What we need first of all is light so we
may see what we are about."

After searching about, Tom found an old uptilted log which he proposed
to use as a "backlog" for a fire. He next roamed about with his lamp,
hunting for a dead pine tree leaning to the south. He explained that the
wood and bar