"I have it all planned," announced Mrs. White the next morning. "The boys are to go for , and the girls are to assist me here. It is rather early, but it is best to have the greens on time."  
Ned and Nat . It would be dull enough to go for evergreens, but with the possibility of "a scare in the woods" for Dorothy and Tavia it might be bearable, whereas, if the girls would be obliged to remain at home——
 
But Mrs. White's sons did not object. She had "planned the day," and that settled it.
 
Joe and Roger were delighted. They felt that girls often proved unequal to all "the bear hunts and wild beast chasing," so dear to the hearts of healthy, young boys.
 
"We might build a campfire," suggested Roger enthusiastically when Joe told him he was to go to the woods.
 
"Too cold for camping," Joe reminded his small brother. But the fact of it being very cold seemed to Roger all the more reason why a campfire should be built, and he said so.
 
"Well, I'll ask Ned," agreed Joe, "and if he says so we'll take bacon and things to roast."
 
Ned and Nat thought seriously over the of hunting evergreens with two "kids." They liked their little cousins—in fact, were very fond of them—but it did seem to the larger boys that there would not be much fun in the woods for greens, and answering small boys' questions, .
 
"Let's ask Roland Scott and Tom Jennings," suggested Nat. "They came home yesterday, and likely would enjoy a fly in the Fire Bird."
 
"Good idea," agreed Ned. "Just run over, and do the asking. I saw Tom cross the lawn a short time ago. He is sure to stick close to Roland."
 
One hour later the Fire Bird was "on the wing," and in the car were the boys from The and their guests, two young men just home from college for the holidays.
 
"Whew!" whistled the handsome Roland as soon as the party got away from The Cedars. "What a stunner your blonde cousin is, Ned! Seems to me you might have prepared a fellow. I almost had a spell when she came to greet me."
 
Now, Ned White never hearing other fellows admire Dorothy. It was a strange fact that while he knew Dorothy to be pretty he was never prepared to hear others say so. Nat picked up the end of Roland's remark. He knew Ned would not say anything very agreeable to it.
 
"But what do you think of the other?" asked Nat. "Now, I prefer the type."
 
"A tomboy, isn't she?" ventured Tom, referring to Tavia.
 
"Oh, just a good fellow," answered Nat. "Always ready for a , if that's what you mean."
 
"Jolly! I thought so," responded Tom. "Well, I do like a girl with some go in her, if she doesn't happen to put all the go in my direction."
 
"In other words," assumed Nat, "you like the tomboy type—in the abstract."
 
"Guess that's it," answered Tom. "But certainly those two girls are equal to putting you through a lively holiday. Wish we had a pair like them down to The Elms for this spell. Gee—I just this Christmas stuff. Aunts and uncles have my bedroom lined with 'secret packages' already. I went on the 'collar button crawl' this morning, and nearly fainted when I saw the stuff under my bed. Aunt Molly runs some kind of a charity jinks, you know, and she has picked out my room as the safest place to hide her trash."
 
"Oh, yes," remarked Ned, "I heard Dorothy say something about it yesterday. Seems to me she said she was going to help."
 
"Oh, then the stuff may remain under my bed," quickly Tom. "If Miss Dorothy is interested—so am I."
 
"I had her first," objected Roland, joking. "I may buy a couple of rag dolls myself. Does Miss Dorothy prefer the rag variety?"
 
Ned seemed all attention to the car. Occasionally he turned to speak to Joe and Roger, but otherwise he took little part in his friends' .
 
"Where are you bound for?" asked Tom as Ned guided the Fire Bird into a narrow lane.
 
"We'll try old first. There should be plenty of green stuff there," replied Ned.
 
"Yes, and if I mistake not," added Nat, "there is in those woods a cabin—old Hume's place. We may be able to lay out there for dinner."
 
"Goody!" exclaimed Roger, whose eyes had been continually on the big basket of stuff which Norah, the good-natured cook at The Cedars, had put up for the boys.
 
"Right," concluded Ned; "there's a chimney and all. Just the place for a layout. Let me see, where did that used to stand?"
 
"I see something like a cabin over there," said Joe, pointing to a corner in the woods where great oak trees towered above all others in the grove. Even in December some brown leaves clung to these giants of the forest, that now a gentle welcome to the boys in the Fire Bird.
 
Ned swung up as close as the road would allow, and presently the party had "disembarked," and were through the woods toward the abandoned hut of an old woodchopper.
 
"Great catch!" exclaimed Tom. "If there is one thing I like it is an outdoor hut with an indoor place on a cold day."
 
"We've got a bag of , you know," Roger reminded them, for Norah had secretly given that part of the equipment to Roger personally.
 
"That's right," Ned, "Then run over to the car and fetch it. Norah is an all-right girl, isn't she?"
 
"I would call her a peach, whoever she may be," added Roland as he gathered up some dry bits of wood on his way to the cabin.
 
"Norah's our cook," declared Roger with an implied in his voice, for it did seem ............