We had a farewell meeting of the society the evening before Bill and I had
to return to boarding-school. At this meeting plans were made for the
Easter vacation. We also considered the matter of getting parental
permission for our summer outing. So far we had been afraid to breathe a
word of our plans outside of the society, since Fred had said something
about it in the presence of Father and had been peremptorily ordered to
banish all such hair-brained, Wild West notions from his head. We realized
from that incident that the consent of our parents would not be so very
easily obtained. But Bill came forward with a promising suggestion. He
would write to his Uncle Ed and see if he couldn't be persuaded to join
the expedition. At first we demurred. We didn't want a "governor" around
all the time. But Bill assured us that his uncle was "no ordinary man";
that he would not interfere with our plans, but would enter right into
them and give us many valuable pointers. Though not by any means
convinced, we told him to go ahead and invite his uncle, as that seemed
about the only means of winning over our fathers and mothers. The society
was then adjourned until our Easter vacation began, each member promising
to earn and save as much money as he could in the meantime to buy the
materials for a tent and provisions for the summer outing.



Word From Uncle Ed.

[Illustration: Fig. 37. Breadths sewed together for Roof and Side
Walls of Tent.]

Bill's letter to Uncle Ed was answered as quickly as the mail could travel
to Brazil and back. Uncle Ed heartily approved of our plans, and said that