"Well named, well named, that young doctor! I try to get the friends in the mountains to submit to it, too, but it is a difficult matter. I keep the virus on hand all the time, a fresh supply. If I can't persuade them to let me give them the treatment, I can at least keep their springs clean for them. Sometimes they even object to that," he laughed, "but they can't help it, as I do it without their leave. They say I take all the taste out of the water." Their way lay around the mountain instead of over it, the course they had taken the day before, and much to the amazement of the young people, they went to the left instead of to the right. "But Greendale is that way!" declared Frank, pointing to the east. "Greendale is really due north of us, but I thought you wanted to go by Jude Hanford's cabin to do your errand. We could go either way to the camp from here, but if we go east, we will miss Jude." "Well, if that doesn't beat all!" exclaimed Frank. Mr. McRae laughed. "What would you have done last night if Tom Tit had not found you and brought you home?" "I was going to lie right down and let the robins cover me up," said Lil. "I was going to climb the highest tree and look out and see if I could spy a light, like the cock in the 'Musicians of Bremen,'" said Lucy. "I was going to follow the path from the spring," said Frank. "I felt sure from the cleanliness of the spring that we were near some house." "And I was going to build a fire and skin the squirrels and have supper," declared Skeeter. "I was just about famished and I knew that food was what Lil and Lucy needed to put heart in them." "Yes, it wouldn't!" laughed Lil. "Much good burnt squirrel without any salt would do a bruised heel. That was all that was the matter with me." That ten miles back to the camp seemed much shorter than it had the day before, and in fact it was, as they made no digressions on the homeward trip. "We must really have walked twenty miles yesterday. Just think how many times we doubled on our tracks," said Frank when they finally came to a familiar spot. They found Jude Hanford's yard running over with frying-sized chickens and on his door step a water bucket full of eggs all ready to take to the store. Of course he was pleased to sell them without having to take off the commission for the middleman. He joined their procession, with his eggs and three dozen chickens distributed among the bearers. CHAPTER XVIII MORE FINDS "Look!" exclaimed Lucy as they neared the camp. "Mr. Smith is flying this morning. I wonder who is with him. He hasn't taken me yet but he promised to today. Please don't tell mother. She would be terribly alarmed at the prospect." "Oh, there's my bird!" and Tom Tit dropped his hoe and the basket of chickens he was carrying and clasped his hands in an ecstasy of delight. "See, see, how it floats! I have found it again! I have found it again!" "Tom Tit, would you like to fly with that great bird?" asked Lucy gently.