and laughed and laughed.

Mr. Ellsworth said, "It is hoped that these brave scouts may succeed in capturing a poet and bringing him home as a specimen, and that they may find other fossils of interest. Meanwhile, the Ravens and the Elks and myself will drift down in our house-boat and endeavor to find someone to tow us from Poughkeepsie to New York and up our own dear river to Bridgeboro. The Ravens and the Elks wish me to offer the brave explorer, Mr. Harry Donnelle, a vote of thinks for taking the Silver Foxes away. They appreciate that he does this for the sake, not of the Silver Foxes, but as a good turn to the Ravens and the Elks. The Ravens and the Elks hope to have a little peace meanwhile. They thank him. In the familiar words of one of our famous patrol leaders, 'we should worry.' And we wish you all good luck in your daring enterprise."

I could see that he winked at Harry Donnelle and Harry Donnelle was laughing so hard that he couldn't make a speech. So I climbed up on Council Rock and shouted, "Hear, hear" Then I made a speech and this is it, because afterwards I wrote it out in our troop book.

The Silver Foxes thank the Ravens and the Elks for their kind wishes. I bequeath all my extra helpings of dessert to Pee-wee Harris of the Ravens-up to three helpings. After that it reverts to Vic Norris of the Elks. Reverts means goes to. Who ever reaches Bridgeboro, New Jersey, first will send out a searching part for the others. The searching party will bring their own eats. If we're never heard of again, that's a sign you won't hear from us. If we get to Bridgeboro and don't find you, that'll be a sign that you're not there. If you are there it won't be our fault. We should worry. We go forth for the sake of prosperity-I mean posterity. So please tell posterity in case we don't reach home safely. If our friends and parents are anxious, tell them to wait at Bennett's on Bridge Street, because that'll be the first place we go to.

The next day was Wednesday and we started early in the morning. The others were going to start down in the house-boat on Saturday. I think the Ravens and the Elks must have sat up all night making crazy signs on cardboard just so as to guy us. And Mr. Ellsworth helped them, too. They had the whole camp with them-even Uncle Jeb; he's manager. He used to be a trapper.

When we got out onto the main road, we saw signs tacked up on all the trees and I guess even scout in camp was there. One of the signs read, Olive oil, but not good-bye. Another one read Day-day to the brave explorers. Another one read, Don't forget to wear rubbers going through the Newburgh morass. Another one read, Beware of the treacherous Ashokan Reservoir. A lot we cared. Didn't people even make fun of Christopher Columbus?

Buy remember, I told you that the hike didn't really begin till we got to Catskill. The reason I don't count the hike from Temple Camp to Catskill is because we were all the time hiking down there. It wasn't a hike, it was a habit. I wouldn't be particular about three or four miles. Besides, I wouldn't ask you to take them, because they've been used before. I wouldn't give you any second hand miles.

When we got to Catskill we bought some egg powder and bacon (gee, I love bacon) and coffee and sugar and camera films and mosquito dope and beans and flour and chocolate. You can make a dandy sandwich putting a slice of bacon between two slabs of chocolate. Mm-um! We had a pretty good bivouac outfit, because the Warner twins have a balloon silk shelter that rolls up so small won can almost put it in a fountain pen-that's what Harry Donnelle said. Dorry Benton had his aluminum cooking set along, saucepans, cups, dishes, coffee pot-everything fits inside of everything else. One thing, we wouldn't starve, that was sure, because we had enough stuff to make coffee and flapjacks for more than a week, counting six flapjacks to every fellow and fourteen to Hunt Manners; oh boy, but that fellow has some appetite! We had plenty of beans, too. Don't you worry about our having plenty to eat.

When we got through shopping, we went to Warner's Drug Store for sodas. Harry Donnelle said he'd treat us all, because maybe, those would be the last sodas that we'd ever have. As we came along we saw Mr. Warner standing in the doorway and he was smiling with a regular scout smile.

"There's something wrong," I said; "there's some reason for him smiling like that."

"Have a smile for everyone you meet," Will Dawson began singing.

But, believe me, I know all the different kinds of smiles and there was something funny about Mr. Warner's smile. When we got inside we saw a big sign hanging on the soda fountain. It read:

By that I knew that some of the fellows up at camp had been down to Warner's the night before and put it there, because they knew that would be the last store we'd go to.

Harry Donnelle said, "All right, line up." So we all sat in a row and some summer people who were in there began to laugh. What did we care? One girl said she wished she was a boy; girls are always saying that. So that proves we have plenty of fun. I could see Harry Donnelle wink at Mr. Warner while the latter (that means Mr. Warner) was getting the sodas ready. Then all of a sudden Harry said:

"Attention! Present spoons. Go!"

So then we all started at once and that was the beginning of the big hike. Just as I told you, it started at the top of the glasses in Warner's and ended in the bottom of the glasses at Bennett's.

When you hear me say M-mm-that's good in Bennett's, you'll know the hike is over.

"Now to skirt the lonesome Catskills," Harry said.

"Now to what them?" Dorry Benton asked him.

"Skirt them," he said, "that's Latin for hiking around the edge of them. We don't want to be all the time stumbling over mountains."

"Believe me, if I see one in the road, I'll tell you," I said.

"And we don't want to get mixed up with panthers and wild cats either," Harry said. And he gave me a wink.

"There aren't any wild animals in the Catskills," Charlie Seabury said.

"There are wild flowers," I said, "but they, won't hurt anybody."

"How about poison ivy?" Westy Martin said.

All the while as we hiked along the road toward Saugerties, we kept joking about the wild animals in the Catskills. Harry Donnelle said there used to be lots of wild cats and foxes, but not any more. He said there were some foxes, though.

Westy said, "I bet there are some bears; once Uncle Jeb saw a bear; he said there weren't any foxes any more."

"I guess there are some gray ones and maybe a few silver," Harry Donnelle said.

"Silver?" I shouted. "Oh boy!" Then I asked him what they fed on mostly.

"Mostly on ice cream sodas," he said; "they're very dangerous after a half dozen raspberry; sodas."

We didn't go near Saugerties, because we wanted to keep in the country, so we hit down southwest along the road that goes to Woodstock. Then we were going to hike it south past West Hurley so we'd bunk our noses right into the Ashokan Reservoir. And the next day we were going to spend trying to keep out of Kingston.

When it got to be about five o'clock in the afternoon, we hit in from the road to find a good place to camp. Maybe you think that's easy, but you have to find a place where the drainage is good and where there's good drinking water.

Pretty soon we found a dandy place about a quarter of a mile off the road, and we put up our tent there.

Harry Donnelle said, "There's one