In the cooking tent the oil stove was set up and lighted, to make sure it burned well.  Then Camp Rest-a-While looked just like its name—­a place where boys and girls, as well as men and women could come and have a nice rest, near the beautiful lake.

When everything was nearly finished, and it was about time to start getting supper, a man came rowing along the shore of the lake in a boat.  He called to Mr. Brown: 

“Hey, there!  Is this where you want your boat left?”

“Yes, thank you.  Tie it right there,” answered Daddy Brown.

“Oh, is that going to be our boat?” asked Bunny, in delight.

“Yes,” answered his father, “I wrote to a man up here that has boats to let, to bring us a nice one.  We’ll use it while we are in camp.  But you children must never get in the boat without asking me, or your mother.  You mustn’t get in even when it’s tied to the shore.”

“We won’t!” promised Bunny and Sue.  Once they had gotten in a boat that they thought was tied fast, but it had floated away with them.  They landed on an island in the river, and had some adventures, of which I have told you in the first book of this series.

Bunny and Sue remembered this, so they knew that sometimes it was not even safe to get in a boat which was tied fast, unless some older person was with them.

The man left the boat he had brought for Mr. Brown.  It was a large one and would easily hold Bunny and Sue, as well as all the others at Camp Rest-a-While.

“Now for the roast potatoes!” cried Uncle Tad.  “Come on, children!  We’ll start our campfire, for I see your mother getting the meat ready to cook, and it takes quite a while to roast potatoes out of doors.”

The campfire was built between two big stones, Bunny and Sue bringing up the wood they had gathered.  Uncle Tad lighted the fire, for it is not safe for children to handle matches, or even be near an open fire, unless some older person is with them.  Bunny and Sue had often been told this, so they were very careful.

When the fire had blazed up good and hot, Uncle Tad let it cool down a bit.  Then he raked away the red hot embers and put in them some nice, big, round potatoes.  These he covered up in the hot ashes, and put on more wood.

“Now the potatoes are baking,” he said.  “They will be done in time for supper.”

And what a fine supper it was—­that first one in camp!  Bunny and Sue thought they had never tasted anything so good.  They all sat in the dining tent, and Mother Brown put the things on the table.

“Now where are your potatoes, Uncle Tad?” she asked.

“Here they are!” cried the old soldier, as he went to the campfire.  He raked away the ashes and embers with a stick, and on a platter, made from a large piece of bark, off a tree, the old soldier poked out a number of round, black, smoking things.

“Why—­why!” exclaimed Sue, in surprise.  “I thought you baked potatoes, Uncle Tad!”