Of course for the next few days little was talked of except the prospect of going to the winter camp. From the parents of the three, tentative permission had been wrung, Grace's father and mother being much in favor of her making the trip. "Her lungs are none too strong," Mr. Ford had said to his wife, "and the winter in the pine woods will do her good." "If only there is no danger!" "Danger! Nonsense!" Mr. Ford had exclaimed. But he did not know what was in prospect, or he might not have been so positive. Even as it was, a few days later brought unpleasant news to him. He had been in correspondence with the old lumberman and his wife, and had practically arranged for them to take charge of the camp, and look after the girls, who would occupy one of the large cabins, if they went to the woods. Then came a letter from a brother lawyer who was looking after some details of the receivership. "By Jove! That makes it bad!" exclaimed Mr. Ford on reading this communication. "What is it, Daddy?" asked Grace, who happened to be in the library with her father when the mail came in. "Why, Travert writes me that Jallow has begun cutting timber on the strip that is in dispute. Valuable timber, too, that I'm sure belongs to me. This is contrary to the ruling of the court. I must stop this if I have to come to an open fight!" "Oh, Father, will this stop us going to camp?" "No, not necessarily. The strip is far enough away from the camp itself. I don't know but what it will be a good plan to have you on the ground, Grace. You can let me know if anything happens. Now I must see what I can do about this. If only I could find Paddy Malone, and he could testify about the changed boundary lines, I'd have none of this trouble," and Mr. Ford sighed. "Maybe we can find him up there, papa," said Grace, softly. "Maybe; but I doubt it. I've been trying for a year to locate him, and can't. But never mind. Don't let this bad news worry you. You and your chums can go there all right, and have a good time. Maybe you'll have more of a time than you want. It looks as though we would have a hard winter." CHAPTER VI PREPARATIONS "How many dresses are you going to take?" "I wonder if we ought to bring along something for evening wear?" "Anyhow we want something warm." "And what about shoes--or boots? How would it do to wear leggings, like the boy scouts?" "I'm sure we won't want anything like evening dresses. Where could we wear them up in the wilderness?" "Why, perhaps there may be a lumbermen's dance." "Oh, listen to Mollie! As if we'd go!" "Why not? Of course we could go if we had a chaperone," and Mollie, who had proposed this, looked rather defiantly at her chums. The other foregoing remarks had been shot back and forth so quickly, in such zig-zag fashion, that it was difficult to tell who said which; in many cases the authors themselves being hardly able to identify their verbal creations.