The water for the cocoa was now bubbling in the saucepan.  Ethel Blue took four spoonfuls of prepared cocoa, wet it with one spoonful of water and rubbed it smooth.  Then she stirred it into a pint of the boiling water and when this had boiled up once she added a pint of milk.  When the mixture boiled she took it off at once and served it in the paper cups that her aunt had brought.  To go with it Ethel Brown had prepared almond biscuit.  They were made by first blanching two ounces of almonds by pouring boiling water on them and then slipping off their brown overcoats.  After they had been ground twice over in the meat chopper they were mixed with four tablespoonfuls of flour and one tablespoonful of sugar and moistened with a tablespoonful of milk.  When they were thoroughly mixed and rolled thin they were cut into small rounds and baked in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes.

“These are delicious, my dear,” Mrs. Smith said, smiling at her nieces, and the Ethels were greatly pleased at their Aunt Louise’s praise.

They sat about on the rocks and enjoyed their meal heartily.  The birds were busy over their heads, the leaves were beginning to come thickly in the tree crowns and the chipmunks scampered busily about, seeming to be not at all frightened by the coming of these new visitors to their haunts.  Dorothy tried to coax one to eat out of her hand.  He was curious to try the food that she held out to him and his courage brought him almost within reach of her fingers before it failed and sent him scampering back to his hole, the stripes on his back looking like ribbons as he leaped to safety.

Within a month the cave was in excellent working order.  The box proved to be a success just as the girls had planned it.  They kept there such stores as they did not care to carry back and forth—­sugar, salt and pepper, cocoa, crackers—­and a supply of eggs, cream-cheese and cookies and milk always fresh.  Sometimes when the family thermos bottle was not in use they brought the milk in that and at other times they brought it in an ordinary bottle and let it stand in the hollow below the spring.  Glass fruit jars with screw tops preserved all that was entrusted to them free from injury by any marauding animals who might be tempted by the smell to break open the cupboard.  These jars the girls placed on the top shelf; on the next they ranged their paper “linen”—­which they used for napkins and then as fuel to start the bonfire in which they destroyed all the rubbish left over from their meal.  This fire was always small, was made in one spot which Roger had prepared by encircling it with stones, and was invariably put out with a saucepanful of water from the brook.

“It never pays to leave a fire without a good dousing,” he always insisted.  “The rascally thing may be playing ’possum and blaze out later when there is no one here to attend to it.”

A piece of board which could be moved about at will was used as a table when the weather was such as to make eating inside of the cave desirable.  One end was placed on top of the cupboard and the other on a narrow ledge of stone that projected as if made for the purpose.  One or two large stones and a box or two served as seats, but there was not room inside for all the members of the Club.  When there was a general meeting some had to sit outside.