"We're ready for anything where shall we tramp to-day to use the hatchet and knife?" said Hilda.
"We'll not tramp we'll stay right here and build a cupboard to hold our edibles as they should be kept."
"A cupboard! What Humph!" and other exclamations showed the surprise the Guide's words gave.
"Are we to chop down a few trees and lop off branches to secure the necessary lumber for the closet?" asked Nita, wondering if the idea would prove irksome or unpleasant.
"Not at all! I may decide to make lumbermen of you before the season ends but I'll not undertake it while you all feel so disinclined to do anything except what your idle fancy suggests. It will take a better understanding of the Law before you start on timber work."
The Guide spoke in a joking way but her words were aimed at Nita's habit of laziness and shirking duties.
"I wonder what Daddy would say if he could see us sawing wood and hammering nails?" said Zan, chuckling.
"My father would say, 'Here, Jane, don't spoil a perfectly good nail! A girl can't strike it on the head, ever!'"
"I never held a saw in my life," commented Elena.
"Can you saw wood?" asked Zan of the Guide with such vim that the others laughed heartily.
"Is that some of your slang or was it fact?" asked Miss Miller.
"I meant it but it is slang, isn't it?" laughed Zan.
"Well, I'll reply yes, I am very fond of carpentry. At home, I have a book-shelf, taborette, lamp-stand, and many little articles that I have made at different times."
"Well, come on, friends let's
get busy on Miss Miller's cupboard," said Hilda.
"Better finish the camp work first. If you girls think you can spare Zan and me, we will go to the house and find some suitable boards. I saw the tools necessary in the tool-house yesterday," Miss Miller said.
"Why, yes, we have lots of good boards in the cellar, and besides, there are some pieces of moulding and quarter-round in the hay-loft. The boys stored it there some years ago when they wanted to build some rooms in the loft. They never found time, as every day had some adventure for us when we were first here," explained Zan.
"And you girls can come to the house and help us carry the material to the Bluff, as soon as you finish the dishes and beds," said Miss Miller.
Zan and the Guide were soon in the low-ceiled cellar sorting pieces of lumber from a huge heap left there by the contractors when the old house was renovated. A number of desirable pieces were selected by Miss Miller who said, "We can take these pieces up to the back porch and take them to camp whenever we have need of them. I think we can make a number of articles that will prove useful."
"My! but you have some long boards there!" said Zan, her head on one side as she surveyed the load the Guide had piled up for use.
"We won't need many to-day for the cupboard, and we need not worry about the future," replied she, smiling.
"Then why not leave them down here?" asked Zan.
"I am not so comfortable down in this dark place with no air, that I would want to call often. We are here now, so the extra lumber can be taken to the upper air when the girls get here."
In a short time, Zan heard the girls' voices and she ran to the side garden to show them the way to the cellar from the back area. A trap-door folded down over the area steps when the entrance was not in use, and opened outward and fastened by means of hooks and screw-eyes to the arbour built over it.
Miss Miller was waiting for the girls and, after they came carefully down the steep stone steps, said, "Here are some boards that Zan and I want piled on the back porch. The ones for our cupboard we will leave to the last."
"I'll tell you what! Shall we tie the cupboard boards in a bundle and drag them across the grass to the Bluff?" cried Zan, as the idea flashed into her thought.
"Ha! Learning to use your thinking-machine, eh?" laughed the Guide. "But think again, unless you are pining to haul burdens."
"Let's get out of this vault with the boards and talk of machines upstairs!" said Hilda, stooping to take a long board.
Elena was close behind her and she also picked up a plank. A pile of kindling wood lay in Hilda's path and she found Nita and Jane in her way if she turned aside, so she endeavoured to climb over the wood. This would have been all right if the ceiling of the cellar had not been so low; as it was, the end of the board that tipped way up in front and down in the back, struck overhead, and threw Hilda backward. The board fell on the kindlings while Hilda stumbled over Elena, who was intent upon getting her plank to the cellar-door. Hilda's sudden impact made Elena drop her burden. Jane dodged the plank but Nita had no time, so the end of the board came down on her toe.
"Wouw! wough! Oo-hoo!" yelled Nita, dancing on one foot while she held the other foot in both hands.
Elena had bumped her head on some short boards Zan was about to carry out, and the expressions on both Elena's and Nita's faces were so funny that the others had to laugh although they immediately apologised for the lack of self-control.