"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last.

"Neithet do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a little
breath. You did not seem to have much left."

"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows and
drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been exercising
very vigorously. "But if everything is ready." he added, "let us start."

"Well, everything is ready," said Tattine quite complacently, as she led the
way to the back piazza, where "everything" was lying in a row. There was the
maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large kitchen spoons, a
china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two or three newspapers, a box
of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a hammer, an ice-pick, and last, and
most important of all, a granite-ware kettle.

"Now if you'll carry these," explained Tattine, "I'll run and tell Philip to
bring the ice," so Rudolph and Mabel "loaded up" and marched down to the camp,
and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the ice-house. The camp was not
far away, and consisted of a cosy little "A" tent, a hammock hung between two
young chestnuts, and a fire-place made of a circle of stones on the ground,
with a crane hanging above it. The crane was quite an elaborate contrivance,
for which Joseph the gardener was to be thanked.

The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that is,
on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way that you
could "higher it," as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it clear of the fire
on either side. At the end of the branch away from the fire hung a chain, with
a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so that you lifted the weight with