"We'll have fried potatoes with the salmon, Jack. Can you make those all alone?" "Yes, indeed!" said Jack, who by this time could do a great many things. FRIED POTATOES Slice cooked or raw potatoes; heat a frying-pan, put in enough fat to cover the bottom when melted, and cook the potatoes till brown; scrape them up from the bottom often, so they will not burn. The potatoes and salmon made a very good supper, but Jack was not sorry to hear that, when the guide made his weekly visit the next day, he would bring eggs and milk and vegetables. "And I'm going to send for a little light sheet-iron stove made especially for campers," said Mr. Blair. "Then we'll have real corn-bread, and baked fish, and biscuits. Don't you want to learn to make biscuits like Mildred's, Jack?" Jack grew red all through his tan as he looked at his father's teasing face. "Well," he said doubtfully, "I suppose biscuits are all right, and I'll learn to make them if you say so. But, Father, you won't want me ever to make cake or desserts, will you? I draw the line there!" "We'll see!" laughed his father. "Perhaps you'll change your mind about that, some day." CHAPTER IX IN CAMP (CONTINUED) There was a wait of a week before the camp stove could arrive, and during that time, Jack took lessons in all sorts of cooking, and learned to make a number of good things; and this was fortunate, for one day two friends of his father surprised them; they were on their way to a camp farther in the woods, and wanted to stay a night and a day with the Blairs before going on. This meant that there were four people to cook for instead of two, and it needed all the experience Jack had to do his share of the work. The visitors did not come until supper was done, and everything was eaten up; not even a bit of fish was left over. So the Blairs had to go to their stores and find something they could get ready quickly, and something very hearty as well. "These fellows are as hungry as hunters," Mr. Blair said, while the men were washing up in the lake and getting ready for supper. "Here's some tinned meat; let's have that, with potatoes in it." "But potatoes take so long to cook--" "Not the way I'm going to cook them; only ten minutes. You can peel four and slice them very thin, and put them in cold water, and then peel and slice an onion while I open the meat and boil the kettle for coffee. Then I'll show you how to make a:" TEN-MINUTE STEW 4 potatoes, sliced very thin. 1 onion, sliced thin. 1 can of tinned meat (not corned beef). Salt and pepper. 1 rounded tablespoonful of flour. 1 large cup of cold water.