260 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
a holiday,” said Jack Todd, “so suppose we take a 
tramp about the hill-country on each side of the river 
valley to Centreville, that’s about five miles, and fetch 
axes with us. I know most of the people on the way, 
and, if we put the shelters somewhere near houses, we 
could distribute the food along, and they would let us 
keep it in one of the outbuildings, so that it would be 
handy in stormy weather. I’m pretty sure we can 
collect stuff enough as we go for the shelters. My uncle, 
who lives at Hilltop Farm, would give me corn-stacks 
for three or four. There’s a heap of slab-sides (the 
outside strip, with the bark, when a log is to be sawn into 
boards) left to go to pieces up by where the sawmill 
was last year; they will make fine wigwams, and there 
are plenty of cedars and birches, with brushy tops, for 
the rest. Then perhaps the folks along the line might 
be interested and rig a few up on their own account.” 
“Thank you, Jack,” said Gray Lady, warmly; “you 
have caught the spirit of the idea and improved it already, 
for if we are to do the game-birds any real good, and 
establish the feeding plan permanently, the people all 
‘along the line,’ as you call it, must be interested until 
not only Fair Meadows township, and the county, but all 
the counties in the state, are linked together in the work 
of restoration. 
“Meanwhile, though, of course, everything that is done 
regularly is work, I really envy you boys some of the 
fun you will have in your winter tramps; sometimes you 
will be able to skate nearly all the way upon the river, 
and sometimes, if the snow is as deep as people are pre- 
dicting, you may be able to go on snow-shoes.” 
