[Illustration: Max declared there was now no reason why they should notcapture the monkey]

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CHUMS OF THE CAMP FIRE

BY

LAWRENCE J. LESLIE

MADE IN U. S. A. 

M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY

CHICAGO :: NEW YORK

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COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY

THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY

CHUMS OF THE CAMPFIRE

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CONTENTS

I THE FROG HUNTERS 15II STEVE PLAYS HERO 25III WHEN DREAMS CAME TRUE 36IV A PROFITABLE BACK YARD 47V ON THE WAY TO THE WOODS 58VI THE TERRIBLE ROAR 69VII THE QUEER ACTIONS OF STEVE 80VIII THE MYSTERIOUS HAM THROWER 91IX "MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE!" 102X THE WILD ANIMAL TRAP 113XI TOO TRICKY FOR TOBY 124XII A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE 135XIII THE SECRET OUT 146XIV A PLOT AGAINST THE MISSING LINK 157XV THE BATTLE OF WITS 168XVI THE LAST CAMP FIRE--CONCLUSION 179

[Transcriber's Note: Table of Contents was not present in originaledition. ]

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CHAPTER I

THE FROG HUNTERS

"How many greenback saddles does that last bullfrog Max shot make, Toby!"

"T-t-thirteen, all t-t-told, Steve. "

"Ginger! that's going some for so early in the spring season, isn't it?I'd like to get about twenty before we quit, which would make just fivefor each of us, Max, Bandy-legs, you and myself. And seems like we oughtto knock over seven more this Saturday afternoon. "

"Say, if only we were up in that old Dismal Swamp where I got lost lastyear, I bet you we could fill a bushel basket with big bullfrogsaddles, " remarked the third boy, whose lower limbs were a littleinclined to grow in the shape of bows and who had on that account alwaysgone by the significant name of "Bandy-legs" Griffin among his comrades. 

"Well, the less you have to say about that time the better, " remarkedthe fourth of the squad, a bright-faced young chap who was looked uponas a born leader, no matter whether on the field of sport as known tothe boys of Carson, or in camp, and whose name was Max Hastings;"because you gave us a pretty bad scare the time we had to rush up thereand hunt that swamp through to find you. Back up, Steve; easy now, Itell you!"

"Do you see the fourteenth victim crouching in the shallow water, orsquatting up on the bank?" whispered the boy who just then held thelittle Flobert rifle, with which the so-called "game" was being bagged. 

"Yes, and he must be the grand-daddy of the whole shooting match, he'sso enormously big. Look at that log lying on the shore, just where theice pushed it last winter. Don't you see a bunch of grass at the furtherend? Well, he's alongside that, and I reckon he hears us talking, for helooks wise and ready to plop into the water. Steady now, Touch-and-goSteve; make sure before you shoot. "

Steve Dowdy, though warm-hearted, and a mighty good comrade, wasinclined to be rather excitable at times, and on this account he hadbeen dubbed "Touch-and-go Steve, " a name that seemed peculiarlyappropriate. 

"I see the old rascal, all right, " he murmured, as he slowly began toraise the little rifle to his shoulder, and take aim; "and let me tellyou he's my meat. I've got a dead bead on him right now. Listen, fellows!"

The sharp, spiteful snap of the Flobert rifle followed. Then Bandy-legsgave a victorious crow, just as though he might have been a barnyardrooster returning to his own dung-heap after whipping the next-doorneighbor's game fowl. 

"That settled his hash for him, all right, and a fine shot for you, Steve. Now hand me the gun, for it's my turn next; and go and retrieveyour game. "

"You'll have to pick your way around there carefully, Steve, " Max wenton to caution, as he observed how the pond shore took several twists inthat particular place, making it difficult to reach the spot where themonster greenback lay extended at full length, a prize worth riskingmuch for. 

"Oh! that's all right, Max; leave it to me. I wouldn't lose that buster, even if I had to strip, and swim over, with the water as cold asanything, because this is only Easter time. "

With these words the late marksman started to make his way along theedge of the pond where their hunt was taking place, and which lay notmore than a mile from the town of Carson, in which all of them had theirhomes. 

While Steve is doing this, and Bandy-legs is making the rifle ready forfurther use by inserting a fresh cartridge in place of the empty shell, a few words of explanation with regard to these four boys may seemappropriate. 

They were boon companions, and together had been having some great timesduring the past two years, many of these happenings having beendescribed at length in the preceding books of this series. 

One of their earlier achievements is worthy of mention, because itsupplied the sinews of war, in the shape of money, through thepossession of which they were enabled to carry out many of their plans, which might otherwise never have materialized through sheer lack ofmeans to pay expenses. 

Knowing that there were plenty of fresh-water clams called mussels insome of the waters adjacent to Carson, these boys, together with OwenHastings, a cousin of Max, now visiting an old aunt abroad, who wantedto adopt him, had made a secret investigation. 

Max had been reading about the wonderful find of pearls in musselspicked up in the streams in Missouri, Indiana and other places, and heconceived the idea that possibly those in the smaller tributaries of theEvergreen River, flowing past the home town, might yield something worthwhile. 

Accordingly he and his four chums, without saying a word to anybody, hadgone into camp on the Big Sunflower River, and commenced their pearlhunting operations. 

The result made a tremendous flurry around that whole vicinity, for thewideawake lads found quite a lot of valuable, pearls in the heaps ofmussels which they gathered along the little stream. 

Of course once the news leaked out everybody hastened to glean afortune in the pearl line; but the boys laughed in their sleeves, knowing full well that they had "skimmed the cream off the pan. " True, afew gems were found, but nothing to compare with their rake-off. And asthe supply of mussels soon became exhausted the flurry had long sincedied a natural death. 

But the boys had a nice little nest-egg in the bank as the result oftheir thrift, and knowledge of things. This had been added to in variousways, such as combing the woods far and near in search of wild ginseng, and golden seal, the roots of which, when properly dried, brought themmany good dollars, after being shipped to a responsible house that dealtin furs, and such things that the woods produce. 

On the preceding fall the boys had enjoyed their Thanksgiving holidaysup in the North Woods in company with an old friend who spent all histime there, trapping wild animals in season for their pelts, and gettingclose to Nature's heart; for Trapper Jim, although well-to-do after afashion, despised the artificial life of the town. 

Here they had experienced a succession of adventures that would foreverkeep the memory of that trip fresh in their minds. Toby Jucklin hadbrought home a 'coon he had captured; while Bandy-legs was the proudowner of a fast growing black bear cub, which was making life miserablefor the cook at his house, because of its mischievous ways, and enormousappetite. 

Toby had apparently gone head-over-heels into the "pet" business. Thatlively and prankish 'coon seemed to have started him along the line ofowning pets, and his comrades many times declared that he would soonhave a regular menagerie in the back yard of his place; for alreadythere were half a dozen home-made cages there, and Toby spent much ofhis spare time feeding his pets. 

Besides that same 'coon, which was often at large, yet never seemeddesirous of heading back to his old haunts where dinners were hard tosecure, Toby had some weird-looking lop-eared rabbits; a bunch of quailfrom which he hoped to raise a family later on; a red fox that had alimp on account of the broken leg set by Toby after he had found thelittle animal apparently dying from hunger in the bitter wintry storm;and last but not least a small edition of a wildcat that never wouldmake up with the hand that fed it, but continued to snarl and spit andlook ferocious week after week, until even patient Toby was beginning todespair of ever calling it a "pet. "

Some of the others had even begun to call Toby the "menagerie man, "because of this inordinate love for pets. They said he dreamed everynight of going out to Africa or India, and collecting wild animals forthe various zoological gardens of the country. 

Toby's parents allowed him to do about as he pleased. No doubt theyexpected to see this present fad run its course, and that some newnotion would eventually displace it. They knew that boys must have ahobby of some sort. With one it may be a mania for collecting things inthe line of autographs or postage stamps; while another may start tostuff birds, secure all sorts of eggs, make fishing rods, take pictureswith a modern little kodak camera, or one of dozens of other things thatare apt to appeal to the modern lad. 

Toby was afflicted with a bad case of stammering, that of course struckhim harder whenever he chanced to be laboring under excitement. Therewere times, however, when Toby surprised his chums by talking as plainlyand steadily as any one of them could do. Though these lapses were buttemporary, and he would fall back into the old miserable rut again, atleast they gave hope that in time the boy might control himself, andfling off the habit for good. 

The four chums had been making ready to spend their Easter holidays inthe woods, so as to have a breath of the open after a severe winter. Easter came unusually late that year, and the spring had alreadyadvanced very far, so that leaves were beginning to appear on the foresttrees far ahead of the usual time. 

Just to get their hands in the boys had started out on this Saturday tosee how the frog supply promised. All of them were exceedingly fond offried frogs' legs, which they declared beat any spring chicken everhatched. And since there were already thirteen plump white "saddles, "as the two attached hind-legs are called, in the basket, it began tolook as though something like a feast would follow, at a number ofCarson houses. 

While Steve was making his way around the little bayou in the pond, intent on securing his prize, which promised to excel in size any ofthose they had already "dressed, " the other three started to talk overtheir plans for the little vacation in the woods. 

There never were four boys who got more benefit out of an outing thanthese Carson lads. They planned for it far in advance, and enjoyed this'part of the excursion almost as much as the thing itself. Max Hastingsknew so many things in connection with the woods; and they had alsopicked up such a world of information when spending those halcyon daysup with old Trapper Jim, that it made it unusually pleasant when theywere in camp, trying out new ideas, and copying others which they hadwatched the woodsman do. 

"Have a care, Steve!" Max called out, as the one who was making his wayaround the little bayou slipped, and splashed the water in his eagernessto accomplish the errand that had taken him there; "you'll get a duckingyet if you don't slow up some! Rome wasn't built in a day, remember!"

"Yes, " added Toby, "and you b-b-bet the w-w-water's c-c-cold right now!Don't I k-k-know when I p-p-put my hand in?"

"Oh! don't bother your heads about me, " sang out Touch-and-go Steve, carelessly; "I guess I c'n look out for myself all right. One more turnand I'll be there. And I c'n see your eyes stickin' out of your headswhen you handle this gi-_gan_tic frog of mine! Wow! but he is a whopper, though!"

He seemed so eager to lay hands on his prize, just as though the biggreenback might recover, and hop into the pond before his very eyes, that possibly Steve was not quite as careful as his boastful words wouldindicate. 

"I don't know about taking any frog legs home this time, " Bandy-legs wassaying, in a half regretful tone; "our girl says she won't cook thesame, and my folks seem like they was set against frog for eatin'. Now Ilike 'em first-rate, but you see I've just got to keep on the good sideof our cook, 'cause she gives me lots of scraps for my pet cub. And ifthat cute little bungler don't improve pretty soon, I just don't knowwhat I'm agoin' to do with him. He makes us so much trouble all thetime, playin' his innocent pranks, but scarin' the cook half out of herseven senses. "

Thereupon Toby became tremendously excited, and pawed at the sleeve ofBandy-legs eagerly, while as soon as he could control his lips and hisvocal chords he started in to say:

"Oh! g-g-give him to me, won't you, Bandy-legs? I'd be the happiestfellow you ever s-s-saw if I had a real live b-b-bear of my own. S-s-say, just name your p-p-price, and if I've g-g-got anything youwant right b-b-bad it's yours. That c-c-cook of yours is set againstp-p-poor Nicodemus, who c-c-came in the night, and was g-given thatname. Think it over, Bandy-legs. "

The other looked at the eager speaker, and grinned. 

"Perhaps I may, Toby, " he remarked, slowly; "anyhow, I'll promise tokeep you in mind, and if I do want to get shut of Nicodemus you'll havefirst chance. It's goin' to be money in my pocket if I do let him go, because he costs me like anything. Oh! listen to Steve, would you; he'ssure enough gone and fallen in, after all your warnin' him to go slow!"

It seemed to be just as Bandy-legs said, if one could judge from thetremendous amount of splashing that came to their ears, Steve being shutout from their view temporarily by a thick clump of alders that grew onthe brink of a little trickling stream emptying into the pond justthere. 

"Let's hurry around and see if he needs any help!" suggested Max. 

"He'll be shivering in the cold, even after he crawls out, " saidBandy-legs; "and we'll have to see that he gets dried off. We'refollowing at your heels, Max!"

"S-s-sure we are!" added Toby, who just then happened to be carrying thebasket in which reposed the hind-quarters of all their previousgreenback victims. 

CHAPTER II

STEVE PLAYS HERO

"We're coming to the rescue, Steve! Keep a stiff upper-lip, old chum!Hold up, and we'll help you climb out, Steve!"

Bandy-legs was shouting cheerfully in this strain as he hurried afterMax, with slower Toby bringing up the rear. The splashing had entirelyceased by this time, which would indicate that there must have been achange in conditions. 

"Say, you ain't drowned, are you, Steve?" Bandy-legs continued, asthough gripped by a sudden dreadful fear. 

Max turned and called back over his shoulder. 

"I can hear water dripping like everything, and I guess he's gone andcrawled out on the bank all right!"

"Sure I have, " said Steve just then from behind the bushes; "and I'vegot that frog, too. He's worth taking a ducking for, let me tell you. There never was such a buster of a greenback croaker. If you could hearhim sing out 'more r-rum! more r-rum!' you'd think it was a bass drumarollin'. Here I am, fellows, dripping wet in the bargain. I must haveslipped, I reckon. "

When Max came upon the speaker, and surveyed his soaked figure, heburst into a shout of laughter. 

"Well, I should think you did slip!" he exclaimed; "you're alwaysslipping, seems like, Steve, and it's because you're in such an awfulhurry to do things that you get into a muss. You certainly are a sightnow, with all that mud on you. If pretty Bessie French could only seeyou I can fancy her nose would go up in the air, because that mud isn'tas sweet as violets or roses, Steve. "

"Well, what's done can't be undone, they say!" declared the other, witha reckless laugh, which was Steve all over; "better luck next time, Isay. Here, Toby, what d'ye think of that for a saddle? Do the needful tohim, won't you please, for I've got to scrape some of this nasty blackmuck off my trousers legs?"

"Here, this won't do, Steve, " observed Max, severely; "you're beginningto shiver right now, and it'll get worse before long. You're soaked tothe skin, chances are. It might be all well enough in the good oldsummer-time to let your duds dry on you, but not in this raw Aprilweather. We've got to postpone the balance of our frog hunt, and make afire. "

"What for?" asked Steve, petulantly, because he did not much fancyallowing the others to make him out to be a weakling. 

"To dry your clothes, if you must know it; and we won't take no for ananswer either, eh, boys?" and Max winked toward the other two, whoimmediately chimed in vociferously to echo his sentiments. 

"Oh! well, have it your way, " grumbled Steve, though there was a gleamin his eyes that showed how he secretly appreciated this solicitude overhis-health displayed by his chums. "P'raps I will feel some better if Iget dried out. I had a cough last winter that worried my folks, andmebbe I shouldn't take chances. "

"Come along this way and we'll soon have a jolly blaze started, " saidMax, who was accustomed to acting as leader, though never at any timebecoming officious to an extent that might be displeasing. 

There was plenty of good wood handy, and certainly those lads knew everylittle trick connected with building fires; so that in a very short timethe cheery flames were jumping merrily upward, and a genial warmth wasdisseminated that felt unusually pleasant to the boy who had commencedshivering in his wet clothes. 

"Now peel off right away, and we'll see about drying your duds!" Maxtold him. 

"Y-y-you might p-p-put on my sweater while we're d-d-doing the same, "added Toby, who was as generous a boy as could be found in a day'sjourney afield. 

"That's kind of you, Toby, and if you think you won't need it rightaway, guess I ought to accept. You see I ain't used to prancing aroundin April without my clothes on. Hang it on that branch, Max; it'll beclose enough to steam without getting' scorched. How long will it taketo dry my shirt out, d'ye think?"

"Oh! perhaps only a matter of fifteen minutes or so, " replied the other, as he proceeded to arrange all the other belongings of the unlucky chumon adjacent bushes until, as Bandy-legs declared, it looked like an"Irish wash-day. "

Having donned Toby's gray sweater Steve did not feel so badly. He keptturning around by the fire, first warming one side and then the other, and all the while dancing up and down so as to keep his blood in goodcirculation; for Max had told him to do this, and surely Max knew whatwas best. 

Toby kept the fire going by feeding fresh fuel from time to time. A firewas one of the things Toby certainly loved. Whenever he took the time toponder over past events that had marked the companionship of these fourlads, the various campfires they had shared in common stood out as oasesin a desert. Toby was apt to figure past happenings as connected withthe time "we had that dandy blaze under the twisted hemlock"; or "thatnight I built the champion cooking fire any campers ever had along. "

By degrees Steve's apparel dried sufficiently for him to get into itagain. He did not look very spruce and clean though, after his recentimmersion, for the mud had dried. Steve had the appearance of a tramp, as Bandy-legs assured him, knowing that the other was as a rule addictedto taking especial pains with his clothes, pressing them out every weekso that the creases would show at the proper angles, and all thatnonsense. 

"Well, when we get home it's apt to be dusk, anyway, " said recklessSteve; "and we won't be meeting up with anybody on the road. If we doI'll dodge in the bushes till they get past. But notice that I got whatI went after, boys!"

That was generally the main thing with Steve, to get what he went after, no matter how strenuous a time he experienced in accomplishing his aim. With him the end always justified the means. And looking back over theexperiences of the last two years his chums could remember many timeswhen this ambition carried the impetuous one into a heap of trouble, from which he was rescued only after considerable difficulty. 

After Steve had fully dressed the four comrades started out once more, bent on following the shore of the big pond the balance of the wayaround, so as to pot such other incautious frogs as might have beentempted by the brightness of the day to mount the bank, and bask in thesunshine. 

"This fine weather isn't going to stay with us, I'm afraid, boys, " Maxremarked, as they went on, Bandy-legs in advance, for it was his nextturn with the target rifle. 

"What makes you say that, Max?" demanded Steve, a little testily. 

"Well, in the first place there's a queer feeling in the air that seemsto tell of a storm coming along, " replied the other; "then if you lookaway over to the southwest you'll see a low bank of clouds. There's somewind in that bunch of clouds if I know anything about weather signs. Andbesides the paper said we'd have a blow some time soon. "

"Hope she gets over with before next week, when we want to hike up intothe woods for our first camp this season; that's all I can say, "Bandy-legs observed over his shoulder, for he could hear what his chumswere talking about, being only a short distance ahead of them, thoughcloser to the shore of the pond. 

"C-c-cracky!" burst out Toby, his face taking on an agonized look, asthough a sudden thought had struck him, and brought pain. 

"What ails you now, Toby?" demanded Steve. 

"Why, I was thinking of the c-c-circus that's expectin' to d-d-drop intoCarson around about m-m-midnight, that's what!"

"Say, that's a fact, " Steve added; "they are showing this afternoon andto-night over at Bloomingdale, and a train will fetch the lot to Carsonright after the last performance. If it storms they'll have a warmsession getting the cages of animals and the performing elephants offthe cars. "

"I thought s-s-some of s-s-staying up and g-g-goin' down to see theanimals come to t-t-town, " admitted Toby; and of course none of theothers saw anything wonderful about that, knowing his great love foranimals as they did; though Bandy-legs did see fit to try and josh hima little when he saw the chance. 

"You certainly missed the biggest thing of your life when you didn'thire out to old Noah, " he told Toby. "Just think what a treat it'd beento him, fellers, to stand there and check off all the animals big andlittle as they walked aboard the ark in pairs, the elephant and thekangaroo, and the little monkey too. But a measly storm oughtn't to keepyou at home, Toby. "

"But they won't get in till near two in the morning, I'm told, "protested Toby; "and I guess my folks'd put the kibosh on my staying outthat late on a stormy night. "

"Hurrah! did you hear him say all that without a single stagger?" criedthe boy with the bow-legs; "wisht my troubles'd be as easy to drop ashis stuttering is. But mine stick with me all the time. "

"There's a good place ahead of you, Bandy-legs, " advised Max; "now showus what you can do. Steve is high notch so far with his gi-_gan_ticmastodon frog. Beat him out at his little game, Bandy-legs, if you can. "

The boy with the target rifle quickly added another victim to thosewhose prized hinder quarters lay in a heap in the trout basket Toby hadslung over his shoulder. 

"That makes fifteen, and only five more to get to cover the twenty, "Steve announced; "but if they were all whoppers like mine, say, thebasket wouldn't be big enough to hold them, I reckon. "

The hunt went on, and by the time the sun had passed pretty well downthe western sky, heading for the black bank of clouds that laymenacingly there, the frog hunters had completed the circuit of the bigpond. They had exceeded their expectations also, for several beyond thescore had been bagged. 

"A good afternoon's work, I take it, " remarked Steve, who was feelingvery well satisfied, because he had secured the biggest frog ever seenin that part of the country, the patriarch of the lot apparently; nordid the fact that his face was still streaked with dried mud, and hisclothes looked like those of a common hobo, seem to detract from hisbubbling joy. 

They started for home along the road that led to Carson. This wassomething of a favorite highway, and they were apt to meet variousvehicles while tramping over the mile and a half that separated themfrom home. 

Just as he had said he would do, whenever they chanced to meet acarriage Steve proved quick to dodge into the scrub, and after thedanger had passed overtake his companions by hurrying. Steve was alwaysgood at hurrying; it was his favorite way of doing things, and nothingpleased him better than a chance to sprint, in order to come up with hismates. 

They had perhaps covered half of the journey, and the church spires ofCarson could be easily seen in the near distance when all at once theynoticed a horse and buggy coming at a lively clip along the road. 

"Looks like a runaway!" snapped Steve. 

"It sure does, " admitted Bandy-legs, "and what d'ye think of that, ifthe girl in the same ain't Bessie French I'll eat my hat!"

"W-what!" almost roared the now excited Steve, stopping in his intentionto beat a hasty retreat, the neighboring bushes offering a splendidasylum. 

"It's Bessie, all right, " said Max; "but about her being run away with, I'm not so sure, because she knows how to handle horses first rate; andthat old Bill of the Frenchs' never was known to cut up before. "

But Steve apparently did not hear a single word that Max said. He wasquivering with eagerness, and a wild desire to distinguish himself as ahero, in the eyes of the pretty girl whom he had been taking to barndances and such for two whole seasons, and with whom he had lately had alittle falling out. 

He brushed his long football hair away from his eyes, and looked again. Yes, old Bill must have taken the bit between his teeth, if he had anyleft, and was renewing his youthful days; for they used to tell greatstories about his having once upon a time been a clever racehorse--about thirty-odd years ago, some people put it. 

Steve started to run along the road. He had undoubtedly mapped out thewhole affair in his mind, like a good general, and cared not what riskshe assumed if only he might pull that galloping horse in, so as to savethe fair girl. 

Max was shouting something to him from away back in the rear, but it wassurely no time to stop and listen now, when a human life, and a preciousone to Steve, might lie in the balance. 

He may have wondered why a girl as sensible as Bessie French shouldpersist in standing erect in the vehicle, and also what business she hadto be holding that whip. Steve did not take the trouble to ask himselfthese bothersome questions. He knew that real heroes _act_ while otherpeople are figuring things out. He must run alongside that rushinghorse, until he could jump up, seize the reins close to the bit and thenthrow his whole weight so as to bring the animal to a stop. 

Well, Steve really managed to do this in a way that should have won forhim considerable credit. He got more or less knocking around before hecould curb the fiery steed; but what should he care so long as hisobject was accomplished. When he had brought old Bill to a completestandstill, he meant to assist the almost fainting girl to the ground, and then perhaps she would tell him how brave he was, and what a foolshe had been to quarrel with him. 

He heard her calling out excitedly to him, but supposed Bessie mightnaturally be anxious about his safety, dear girl. 

Steve finally managed to bring old Bill to a stand; and it was wonderfulhow quickly all the spirit went out of the ancient horse once he feltthe hand of a _master_ at the rein. 

As the heroic rescuer turned around he was staggered to see the prettyface of Bessie French clouded with a frown, and to hear her bitterlytell him how silly he had been to stop her in that way. 

"Why, don't you see I was only trying to prove to Mazie Dunkirk that ourold Bill still had some fire left in him!" she cried, with tears ofmortification in her voice. "She said he couldn't run all the way to thecross-roads and back again in seven minutes, and I just knew he could. But now you've stopped us, and I've lost a candy pull. If some peopleonly knew enough to attend to their own affairs it would be better forthem. Please let go of that bridle; I want to go on!"

CHAPTER III

WHEN DREAMS CAME TRUE

Steve seemed turned into a pillar of stone. He stood there, and juststared as hard as he could at the girl in the buggy. His hand thoughreleased its clutch upon the reins, and the girl, plying the whip on oldBill, swept past, giving him one last scornful look as she went; forindeed the usually elegant Steve must have impressed her as having takento the life of a tramp, he was so soiled and streaked. 

Max and Toby and Bandy-legs had listened, and also stared. They grinnedof course when they realized how their brave companion's efforts werewasted on the desert air; but did not say a single word as they walkedon, and overtook the dazed Steve, still standing there as though hardlyable as yet to figure it out. 

He managed to grin a little himself, even while rubbing his elbow, whereit may have been knocked by the shaft of the vehicle at the time he madethat gallant upward jump. 

"Huh! seemed like it wasn't a runaway after all!" he told them; "but howwas anybody to know about that, when it had all the earmarks of one? Inever waited to ask, but saw my duty and did it. Lots of thanks I got, didn't I? It'll likely be some time before Steve Dowdy bothers himselfto stop horses again at the risk of his own life. Why, she looked likeshe could _eat_ me when she drove off. A fellow's a fool to think a girlcould appreciate a job like that. Huh!"

"Never mind, Steve, " said Max, throwing an arm over the shoulder of hisfriend; "we know that if it had been a sure-enough runaway you'd havecovered yourself with glory, and saved her life in the bargain. Who'dever expect girls to be wagering candy pulls about an old nag makingtime? And anybody to see old Bill tearing along would say he was runningaway. It's all right, Steve; forget it now. You made a great stop, there's no getting around that. "

"I should say he did!" added Bandy-legs; "and when Bessie comes to thinkof how you risked your precious life, just because you _thought_ she wasin danger, why, I don't see how she can help but feel sorry for being sosharp with her tongue. But then all girls think of is candy-pulls, dancin' and such things as dress. Nope, it don't pay for a feller toplay the hero any more. You wouldn't ketch me adoin' it, for a fact. "

Toby started to say something that may have had to do with his opinionconcerning the impossibility of any one built like Bandy-legs beingagile enough to run alongside a racing horse; but he made such a mess ofit, or else on second thought felt it would be mean to say it, for hestopped short, gulped several times, and relapsed into silence. 

Sometimes that affliction of Toby's saved him from getting into troubleand controversies, which proved that it was after all not an unmixedevil. 

After that they went on toward home, chattering like a lot of magpiesabout the glorious times they expected having in the following week, should the weather permit of their going off to the woods, on theirfirst outing of the season. 

Before separating they divided the spoils of the frog hunt. After dueconsideration Bandy-legs concluded that it would be best for him not tobother his folks with any of the proceeds of the expedition to the bigpond. 

"I'll drop over to your house to-morrow, Toby, " he said, as he handedthe other his share of the trophies in the shape of five saddles, "andp'raps you'd be kind enough to save me a couple of these, no matter ifthey are cold. I don't dare upset our cook. She's the boss of thekitchen in our house, and if you rub her the right way you c'n getwhatever you want; but she does everlastingly hate the looks of frogs'legs, and vowed the last time I fetched some home she'd leave before shecooked 'em again. Besides, mebbe next week we'll run across our fill ofthe same when we're campin' out, and then I can have all I want. "

Toby readily agreed to this, for he was a most accommodating fellow. Heeven made Bandy-legs promise to eat dinner with him when the wonderfuldish of frogs' legs would be served. 

"I'll have the s-s-same, even if I have to c-c-cook 'em m-m-myself!"Toby promised, in parting. 

"If you look over there, " remarked Max, casually, "you'll notice thatbank of dark clouds has climbed up a little now. Seems like it might begoing to whoop things up some before morning comes along. "

"Well, it's Sunday, and all we could do would be to hang around thehouse, or walk down to see how the old circus was coming on, " Steveobserved, with the calm philosophy of a boy. 

"It's going to clear the air for next week, and give us the greatesttime ever, " Max went on to say, in his optimistic way, for he was everready to see the bright side of things, and no trouble could come alongbut what Max quickly discovered that the gloomy cloud had a silverlining. 

In this spirit the boys separated, each one heading for his particularhome, for it was close on supper time; and Steve wanted to change hisclothes before he allowed his folks to see him. 

Toby too knew that he would have certain chores to look after connectedwith the feeding of his pets. He was too tender-hearted a boy to letthem go hungry when it could be helped; and besides, his mother alwaysinsisted that if he must keep such a little menagerie in the back yardhe should always have the place tidied up, and under no circumstancesallow his captives to suffer from lack of attention on his part. 

The 'coon was glad to see him, and even allowed Toby to pat his sleekback, although the boy could remember many occasions in the past when hehad been nipped by those sharp teeth, or else felt the angry animal'sclaws. 

His red fox was also very tame, and would eat out of his hand, thoughToby did not dare let him loose, even with a chain like that holding the'coon, for fear of losing him. 

Even the wildcat seemed to be pretty friendly on this occasion, andgrowled in a lower key than usual when Toby was pushing the meat scrapsthrough the openings between the bars of its cage. 

Toby was mentally exulting in the possibility that his collection mightsoon be added to by the coming of that partly grown black bear cub, which Bandy-legs had half promised to let him have. 

He even figured out just where he would keep Nicodemus fastened, andwhat kind of a cage he would have to construct for him; because he hadnever fully liked the one now being used as a place of shelter for thecub, Bandy-legs not being much of a carpenter, to tell the truth. 

It was with his mind filled with future triumphs in this line ofcollecting wild animals that Toby sat him down to supper that evening. He was unusually quiet, because he was thinking, and planning, andseeing visions of great things to come to pass in the distant future. 

When his father asked him how the frog hunt had come out he did manageto arouse himself sufficiently to narrate some of the particulars, especially Steve's getting such a monster hermit frog, his falling intothe pond, their making a fire to dry his clothes, and finally how hestopped the runaway horse under a misunderstanding and never got even somuch as a word of thanks from the pretty inmate of the buggy. 

Now at home, when he knew his folks were taking note of his manner ofspeech, it was singular how free from stuttering Toby's language couldbe. He just gripped himself, and was careful to speak slowly anddistinctly, pronouncing every word as though he were a foreigner tryingto pick up English. 

And after all that is the only true way for a stammering boy to curehimself; if Toby had been as careful when among his chums as he was athome, he would have undoubtedly thrown the habit away long ago. But thenthere were plenty of causes for excitement in a warm baseball game, orwhen indulging in a swimming match, which he did not encounter at home;and this excitement was the main cause for his failure to speakdistinctly. 

He sat reading until it was bedtime, for he happened to have aninteresting book, taken from the public library, and all about thedifferent animals seen by a traveler in the heart of the African forest. It was highly embellished with colored pictures, supposed to beproduced from photographs which this daring explorer had taken whileconcealed near some waterhole, where the animals of the forest were inthe habit of coming to drink nights, and a flashlight camera helpedcatch them true to nature. 

All of this is told with an object in view. It would serve to explainwhy Toby must have dreamed that he too was a bold traveler in thisforeign wilderness, and reveling in the wonderful sights to be met withthere. 

Once during the night he was awakened by the rush of the wind, as thestorm that Max had told them would come along during the night, swoopeddown upon Carson to blow a few trees over, and hit the tall steeple ofthe Methodist church again, possibly wrecking it for the fourth time inas many years. 

As Toby crawled sleepily out of bed, to close the shutters belonging tothe two windows in his room that looked out on the back yard where hispets were snugly housed, he wondered whether the circus had arrivedsafely, and if the storm would keep them from erecting the biground-top. Fortunately they had all of Sunday to prepare for the nextperformance; and that would count for considerable, if repairs werenecessary. 

Just then, during a temporary lull in the gale, he distinctly heard theclock in the town hall tower strike three. This told him that the timefixed for the coming of the circus train had long since passed, andthat they would undoubtedly be caught unprepared by the storm. 

"But then they're used to roughing it, " Toby thought, without stammeringeither, "because circus canvas hands have to rub up against hard thingswherever they go. Haven't I had one boy tell me he never knew when hewas going to get his next meal, and how for a month he didn't haveregular sleep, and then it was on a hard board floor mebbe. Which makesme feel thankful for such a nice soft bed, though I c'n stand itsleepin' on the bare ground, when I have to in camp. "

Yawning as he told himself this, Toby stood there by the open window fora minute trying to ascertain whether he could hear a lion roar or anelephant trumpet, for that would have made his ambitious blood leapthrough his veins. But the noise of the storm prevented him from hearinganything else, as the rain was beating down on a tin roof near by, whilethe wind howled through the trees as though pursued by a legion ofdemons. 

So presently, when Toby found himself beginning to shiver, he crawledback again between the sheets, and snuggled down, glad that he had sucha comfortable nook in which to lie while things were so unpleasantwithout. 

Once Toby managed to get to sleep and he minded nothing else thatoccurred. Had that furious gale whipped the roof off the house he mighthave aroused sufficiently to ask if the danger were very great, andupon being reassured would have again dropped off on his voyage toslumberland. 

It was daylight when Toby sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. 

"Gee!" he was saying to himself, "that was a corker of a dream, allright. Why, seemed like I could see everything the animals were adoingat that same waterhole where that man took his flashlight pictures; andit was so much like the real thing I could even hear 'em carryin' onwhen the flash scared the bunch. "

Just then he started, and sat upright, staring hard toward the nearerwindow, through which it seemed a queer sound had come. 

Toby could not ever remember having heard such a sound in all his life;it was different from everything he had ever come across, and seemedfraught with the most alarming potentialities. 

Could one of his pets be choking to death, and was that cry meant for asignal to summon him to the rescue? The thought flashed into his excitedmind, causing Toby to spring from his bed like a flash, and rush over towhere the closed shutters prevented a view of the back yard. 

If Toby did have an impediment in his speech there was certainly nothingof that kind connected with his movements. He was known to be one of thesmartest players on the high school nine; though tongue-tied, he couldequal the swiftest player on the football eleven, and had more thanonce claimed a share in carrying victory to the colors of Carson High. 

He reached the window, and with trembling fingers fumbled at the catch, intending to throw the shutters wide open. As he was doing so he becameaware of the fact that a confused jumble of mysterious sounds seemed tocome floating up to him. 

Toby gave his head a shake, as he again took himself to task. 

"It's the old dream ahangin' on to me, " he thought. "Chances are nowthat's only a door aswingin' in the breeze, and groanin' to beat theband; yet I'm so filled chuck full of things, because of that book, andmy dream, that I'm silly enough to think I'm ahearin' wild animalsasnortin' and agruntin'. Bah! get your eyes wide open, Toby Jucklin, andlet up with this nonsense. "

He flung open the shutters as he came to this part of hauling himselfover the coals. Then he crouched there as though transfixed, hardly evendrawing in a single breath. All Toby could do was to remain as thoughchanged into a statue, and take it out in staring; though he did want torub his eyes the worst kind, and see if the magical vision would vanish. 

Indeed, there was enough reason for him to stare as though his eyeswould pop out of his head. What he gazed upon might make the mostsensible person believe he had been taken with a very bad case ofnightmare, and was seeing things that could exist only in dreams. 

There, right in the same back yard where he had his own private littlemenagerie Toby was looking down upon the most remarkable collection ofwild animals any boy could imagine would drop down from the clouds of astormy night--two big elephants, and a cunning baby one in the bargain;three dromedaries, with their double humps all in place; an ostrich; astriped zebra, and last but far from least, a cowering tawny form with ashaggy mane in which Toby could recognize the king of the Africanforest, a male lion!

Who could blame Toby for believing that he was still dreaming as hestared out of the window of his own little second story room, and sawthis wonderful array of wild beasts camped in the back yard, where up tothen the fiercest captive had been his snarling wildcat, and undersizedat that?

CHAPTER IV

A PROFITABLE BACK YARD

"Oh, my s-s-stars!"

That was the extent of Toby's utterance for the moment, as he remainedcrouched under the window, and watched that wonderful thing that hadcome to pass in a single night, just as though he might be living in thetimes of the "Arabian Nights, " when magic was in vogue. 

"W-w-where am I at?" he presently breathed. "W-w-what does it allm-m-mean? Has the w-w-world really turned upside d-d-down? Am I inAfrica, or is this s-s-still p-p-plain old Carson, and I'm j-j-justseein' things?"

Just then the swinging trunk of the largest elephant was curled over therim of the trough where running water passed day and night, comingthrough a long pipe from a distant spring; there was a strange suckingsound, then the trunk was turned upward, and a spray of water wentsizzling over the great broad back of the animal. 

Toby stirred himself. He could see that the camels were chewing theircud, and the ostrich pluming its ruffled feathers, while the babyelephant nosed around as though in search of breakfast. Then even theskulking tawny figure that was partly hidden under the cage containinghis wildcat moved; and he could make out the hitherto defiant inmatetrying to cower against the back of the refuge as though frightened bythe nearness of the king of the African jungle, the lion. 

"By jinks! mebbe the circus was busted in the storm, and all the wildanimals got loose!"

Why, Toby was so startled by this sudden thought, that he even neglectedhis customary stutter. Bandy-legs would have been quick to drawattention to this remarkable fact, had he been present to notice it, ashe invariably did. 

The more Toby allowed this idea to sink into his brain the stronger grewhis conviction that he had really hit upon the truth. What tickled Tobymost of all was the fact that the escaped animals should select _his_back yard above all other places of refuge in the good old town ofCarson. 

Perhaps it had happened that the gate blew open in the storm, havingbeen insecurely fastened; and that somehow the first animal may havebeen attracted by the very odor of which his mother was beginning tocomplain, and which is always present where wild animals are kept, suchas his wildcat, 'coon and fox. 

Toby, however, always insisted that it must have been some instinct thatcaused elephants, dromedaries, ostrich, zebra and even the toothless oldperforming lion, Nero, to camp in his back yard in preference to anyother harbor of refuge. 

"Sure they knew a friend when they wanted to get in out of the wet, didn't they?" he would argue, with many a twist and turn to his speech;"animals are wise to the fact that a _few_ people care for them, and I'mone of that select bunch. And you can believe that I'll always take itas one of the greatest compliments ever paid to me that they picked outthe Jucklin yard to camp in!"

But Toby was not saying anything like this just at present. He knew thatsome energetic action must be taken in order to notify the owners of thewrecked circus where they could find a big part of their stray stock. 

He tore downstairs in a great hurry, though very careful at the sametime to close the shutters of his window again; for it gave him a coldchill to imagine that great yellow-maned lion scrambling up thegrape-arbor near by, and finding entrance to his sleeping apartment. Toby liked wild animals all right, but he was not hankering after havingthem quite as close as that. 

It was a quiet Sunday morning. Later on the church bells would begin tojangle and ring, but at that early hour not a sound seemed to makeitself heard. 

Straight to the telephone rushed Toby, and as soon as he could getCentral he begged to be connected with the office of the Chief ofPolice. 

Now Toby hardly expected that the brave defenders of Carson would marchup to the Jucklin domicile, and arrest those elephants, dromedaries, zebra, ostrich and last but not least the terrible king of the darkAfrican jungle, as Nero was described on the posters that decorated allthe bill boards in town. But when citizens were in any sort of troubleit was only right they should put it up to the police. What were thosemen paid for, but to shoulder all the burdens that might arise, and finda solution to mysteries? Why, they would not earn their salt unlesspeople found something for them to do once in a while; because Carsonmost of the time was as sleepy and peaceable as any town could be. 

"Hello! hello!" said a voice over the wire. 

"That you, C-c-chief?"

"It certainly is; what can I do for you this morning?" came the voice. 

"This is T-t-toby J-j-jucklin s-s-speaking to you!"

"I see it is, " replied the official, who knew Toby very well, anddoubtless his stuttering also. "Well, what's happened this Sunday, Toby?Storm knock a chimney down at your place? It would only make six I'veheard from, not to speak of the church spire being out of plumb again. "

"D-d-did the circus g-g-get to town last night, C-c-chief!"

"Did it? Well, I should say yes. There's the dickens to pay, and I guessmost of the churches'll have thin audiences this morning, when the newsleaks out, Toby. "

"Y-y-you mean the animals escaped, d-d-don't you, Chief?"

"They surely did, " came the reply over the wire. "Wind blew theround-top down, upset some of the cages, and made such a big panic thatall the live stock that could get a move on took French leave. Right nowthe whole outfit is scouring the roads for ten miles around, but Ihaven't heard that they've run across anything yet. The whole countrywill be just plumb crazy when it gets known. "

"W-w-what was it g-g-got away, Chief; w-w-would you mind tellin' me?"

"Certainly not, Toby; you know I'd do a heap to oblige you, " the head ofCarson's police force went on to say, for Mr. Jucklin had considerableinfluence in politics, and the Chief knew which side of his bread wasbuttered, as well as any one could. "Let's see, I heard it over thewire, and Mr. Jenks was all broke up over the catastrophe, so he mixedthings up some; but I remember he said all the camels and the elephantshad lit out, ditto their trained ostrich that draws a cart around thering like a hoss; and there was some monkeys that broke loose too, yes, and now I think of it he did mention a striped animal which he calledthe zebra; and I think he said a lot of lions and tigers, and also a fewothers I can't recall for the moment!"

"Well, part of the lot are camped right now in our back yard!" saidToby, filled with such a sense of importance that he neglected tostumble over a single word of this sentence. 

Evidently the man in blue uniform at the other end of the wire wasstaggered by this unexpected communication. 

"What's that, Toby?" he exclaimed; "you wouldn't try to deceive me, Ihope? Sure you haven't been dreaming, and seeing things? I know you'refond of wild animals, and have got a little collection yourself; butexplain some more. I wouldn't want to get hold of Mr. Jenks, the circusman, and then have him disappointed. "

"Oh! no danger of that, " sang out Toby, jubilantly; "let's s-s-see, there's one l-lion, three elephants, three double-humped c-c-camels, anostrich, and the zebra there right now, 'cause I s-s-saw the whole lot. D-d-don't know how m-m-many more might be around on the other s-s-sideof the house. Seems like they j-j-just took to the Jucklin ranch. K-k-knew a good thing when they saw it. Will you notify this M-m-misterJenks, or shall I?"

"Why, he's right across the square now, getting some breakfast, and Ican run over to tell him, Toby, thank you. "

"H-h-hold on, Chief!"

"What else is there, Toby?"

"D-d-do you know if he's been offerin' any s-s-sort of reward for therecovery of his l-l-lost animals?" asked the boy, eagerly. 

"Why, I did hear him say he'd be only too glad to make it worthanybody's time who brought him information that would lead to therecovery of his property. And I'll see what I can do for you, Toby. Itought to be worth fifty dollars to you, that's right. But don't detainme any longer, because he might get away. He's got a car at the door ofthe hotel waiting for him. See you later, Toby, and thank you forcalling me up. "

Toby puzzled a little over this last remark. He finally grinned, andconcluded that possibly there might be something in it for the genialChief also, which was why he declared himself as indebted to the boy whobrought the information. 

Toby's next move was to hurry down to the kitchen to warn the cook notto poke her head out of doors on penalty of receiving a shock. He wasjust a few seconds too late to prevent this, however, for just as hereached the kitchen, and discovered the back door open, a figure cametearing through like mad. It was the black cook, Sallie Marie, and thewhites of her eyes were showing as she slammed that door shut and thenfell back in a big chair, almost fainting. 

"Don't yuh go out dar, chile!" she whimpered, as she thought she sawToby making for the door; and so he was, but only to turn the key in thelock, as though fearful that some cunning and aggressive animal mightmanage to open it; "de Noah's ark am drapped down on top of dis wickedtown durin' de night, an' der's de animiles awalkin' 'round our gardentwo by two, de elephants an' de camels an' de lions. Oh! what-ebber amwe agwine to do, chile? Does yuh think I's on'y makin' b'lieve, or dat Idone got de fever? Jest look fo' yo'self out o' de window, an' see alldem awful t'ings out dere. I done spect yuh got all de menagerie yuhwants dis time, an' dat's a fack!"

Toby hastened to explain what had happened, and that the animals she sawbelonged to the menagerie connected with the circus that was passingSunday in Carson, meaning to give a parade Monday morning, to befollowed by two performances later in the day and evening. 

Then he hastened upstairs again to tell the rest of the folks; and forsome time every one in the Jucklin house had his or her face glued to awindow pane, watching the remarkable sight to be seen in their plainback yard, which for the time being seemed to have been transported tothe heart of Africa. 

Then the first detachment of the circus people hove in sight, and therewere witnessed some of the strangest things that ever came to pass onthe quiet of a Sunday morning in old Carson, since the days of the war, half a century before. 

Men led elephants away; others came with the two-humped dromedaries, andafter them the striped zebra trotted, showing something like temperbecause his spell of liberty had been so short. 

Then came the ostrich, with its master leading it by a rope, and warningthe curious spectators to keep away from its feet because it could kickforward like a football punter, and with disastrous results. 

Last of all a cage was brought to hold the lion that was at large; andwhile the men, armed with sticks and pistols, the latter beingdischarged frequently so as to inspire old Nero with alarm, drove thebeast toward the open door of the wagon, the spectators peeped frombehind corners and other places of refuge, ready to run madly if thereseemed any chance of his turning toward them. 

In the end all the animals that had gathered so strangely in the Jucklinyard were taken away. Toby had thought to call up his chums on the'phone early in the affair, so that not only Max, but Steve andBandy-legs were on the spot, to gape, and see all that went on, enjoyingit immensely too. 

That was a Sunday never to be forgotten in the annals of Carson. Thenews went around, and many timid people remained shut up in their housesthe livelong day, not daring to venture out for fear lest they bepounced upon by a striped tiger, a yellow-maned lion, a man-eatingpanther, or some inferior beast like a common wolf, hyena or jackal. 

The boys of the town were wild with excitement, and all day long a crowdgathered about the round-top, which had been repaired and hoisted. Thesecircus men are able to meet sudden emergencies. They know what it is tograpple with difficulties that come unannounced; and it is all in aday's work with them. 

Some mended torn canvas; others looked after the animals, while freshlots continued to scour the adjacent country, searching for such animalsas had not been accounted for in the collection found in the Jucklinback yard. 

It was the biggest advertisement the show could possibly have had, andthe enterprising owner saw his opportunity to get out fresh bills, telling about the havoc of the storm, and announcing that these beastsof prey that had been at liberty were now all safely securedagain--which Toby and his chums knew was a barefaced lie, for the menwere still hunting along all the roads and the woods within ten miles oftown--and "could be seen in the wonderful menagerie that formed a partof the grand aggregation, " and so the announcement ran on, after thecustomary flamboyant manner of circus posters in general. 

Toby had a little streak of business about him, and some time during theday he managed to interview Mr. Jenks, informing him that he was the boywho had been the means of sending information in first about the missinganimals, and that it was his amateur menagerie in the back yard that hadbaited them. 

So what did Mr. Jenks do but place fifty dollars in his hand, and thankhim in the bargain. Toby was quite satisfied, but he could not helpwondering what the Chief got out of it; though he never knew. 

Of course he was also told that he could attend both performances, andfetch a dozen friends along with him in the bargain, a privilege Tobywas pretty certain he would avail himself of, for he was a real boy, andas we know, loved animals far beyond the average of his class. 

There was a tremendous outpouring of people on the following day andevening; for never had a show been better advertised than that of Mr. Jenks. Some people even hinted that the escape of the wild beasts hadreally been a shrewd dodge whereby a novel feature could be introducedinto advertising practices; but others scoffed the idea, and pointed tothe fact that even through Monday squads of the trainers and canvasmencontinued to patrol the highways and byways around Carson as though allof the wild beasts could not have been recovered in that raid on theJucklins' back yard. 

CHAPTER V

ON THE WAY TO THE WOODS

"Pull up here at the spring, boys, and let's all get a drink. "

"Whoa! there, Ebenezer, you're going to get a little rest before wetackle the last three miles to the camping ground we've picked out. "

Max had been the first speaker, and Steve did the talking to the horsethat was drawing the wagon on which the four chums were seated. They hadcome quite a distance from Carson since early morning, fully fifteenmiles along the road; and the animal between the shafts was beginning topuff, as though well tired out. But often some of the boys had only toogladly jumped down, and climbed hills, so as to make things easier forthe beast of burden, for which possibly Ebenezer may have been thankful, and again he may not. 

The Easter holidays had set in. Only of recent date had the Carsonschool trustees settled upon the new policy of shutting the doors for afull week at this time of year, so as to give teachers and scholars abreathing spell before the hard work of spring examinations; and it maybe sure that the boys and girls appreciated the favor very much indeed. 

With a whole week before them then, the four boys had started away earlyon that morning, bent upon making a new camp, and enjoying themselves totheir full bent. Others might find pleasure in starting to play ball, and kindred sports that the coming of a few warm days always sees takeon new life; but as for Max and his comrades, give them the open woods, and a tent, for their sport. 

The excitement over the circus animals had about died out in Carson. After the passing of the show people began to think of other things, though there were some of the more timid who continued to see terriblewild beasts in every animal noticed on the roads or in the fields, suchwas the reign of terror the occurrence had instituted in certainfamilies. 

Toby was as proud as anything over his part in the affair. He believedthat it had put him in the spotlight for the time being, because everyone was talking about how queer it was all those animals should pick outthe Jucklin back yard to congregate in; and that of course alwaysbrought up the subject of his love for collecting. 

Besides, hadn't he made his chums turn green with envy when he showedthem that lovely bunch of five ten-dollar bills, which the gratefulcircus proprietor had placed in his hand as a reward for sending in theearliest news concerning the location of his missing property?

Yes, Toby was as happy as the clam is said to be at high tide. Hefairly bubbled over with an excess of spirits, and even when Bandy-legscommenced to tease him he refused to display any temper. 

In that wagon they carried most of the stuff that had been so useful onother similar expeditions to the woods in search of enjoyment. 

There was the old tent which Max had tanned after a formula of his own, so that it had not only lost its dirty white look, but was nowguaranteed wholly waterproof. Then they had various guns, from thereliable rifle Max owned to the newer little twelve bore Marlindouble-barreled shotgun which Steve proudly claimed could outshoot anysimilar weapon ever made. 

Besides they carried a full cooking assortment of kettles, fryingpansand coffeepots. As to the provisions, well, given four hearty boys withgood appetites, an abundance of money in the treasury of the club, andwith a whole week ahead of them in the woods, and you can easily imaginewhat an enormous stock of food they would be likely to lay in. 

Unless something happened to deplete their stock of groceries there didnot appear to be much chance of such a thing as real hunger being knownin that camp. If they wanted fresh eggs, milk and butter, Max knew of afarmer within two miles who would be only too glad to supply them withall they could use, terms strictly cash with the order always. 

It was now about three in the afternoon. They had a scant three milesmore to cover before arriving at their journey's end; and hence were notin any great hurry to push along. So a little rest at the cool springwould not come in amiss, and give poor old Ebenezer a chance to get incondition for the last round. 

As the boys lounged there and took things easy, they chatted aboutnumerous matters; and it was only natural that in due time the talkshould turn once more to the recent great scare Carson folks had passedthrough. 

"Seems to me, " Max remarked, with a laugh, "that in some families foryears to come whenever they want to refer to anything that happened inthe past, it's going to be something like this: 'the year the circusbroke loose, ' or else perhaps along this order: 'just a month afterthose horrid wild animals terrorized the town!'"

"Yes, and they're seeing 'em yet every little while, " Steve went on todeclare. 

"S-s-sure thing, " assented Toby, chuckling as he patted his pocket wherepossibly one of those brand new ten-dollar bills snugly reposed, forToby believed in going prepared for anything that might happen, andmoney is always a good thing to have around; "didn't the C-c-chief tellme only y-y-yesterday that old Miss Moffat she c-c-called him up anddemanded that he c-c-come and arrest a hyena that was runnin' all aroundher p-p-pasture lot; and when he hurried out there, taking one of hismen along, so's to s-s-shoot the t-t-terror, s-s-say, what d'ye think itwas but the next d-d-door neighbor's d-d-dog?"

Bandy-legs heaved a long sigh at this juncture, which of course calledattention to him. 

"Hey! what ails you there?" demanded Steve. 

"He does look like he mightn't be as happy as you'd think, when we'rebound on such a glorious trip up to the woods, " Max remarked. 

"Well, I ain't, " grumbled the one who was under fire just then. 

"Not feelin' sick, are you?" Toby wanted to know, for he could notunderstand how anybody could fail to be bubbling over with joy when offon such a vacation as they had ahead of them; and with fifty dollars inhand things do look pretty rosy to a boy, it must be confessed. 

"Aw! no, I could eat a house!" Bandy-legs shot back at him; "it's allabout Nicodemus again. "

"Hello! What's the c-c-cute little rascal b-b-been doing now?"

"Why, you see, ever since that menagerie had to go and break loose, ourNora, she seems more set against my bear cub than ever. I saw she wasgoin' to make trouble first chance she got, and so I've been mightycareful to keep the cub from slippin' loose from his collar, like heused to. But that's what he went and done last night, and however thecritter ever got into the house beats me. "

"What's that you say; the bear cub didn't try to run away to the woods, but climbed in through some open window, and got in your house; is thatit, Toby?" cried Steve, holding up his hands in pretended horror, butgrinning at the same time. 

"Huh! if you'd heard the yells that our Nora gave about nine o'clocklast night, when she went up to her room, you'd athought it worth whilementioning, " Bandy-legs continued, sorrowfully, yet with a twinkle ofamusement in his eye. 

"Wow! that sounds kind of interesting; suppose you tell us more aboutit, Bandy-legs, " Steve implored, eager to hear particulars. 

"Why, seems like, " began the other, only too willingly, "her candle blewout just when she got up to the door of her room, which was wide open;so what does Nora do but feel her way in. She had some clean clothes inone arm that she wanted to lay on her bed while she lighted her candleagain. But when she touched a hairy object that moved and whined-like, she nearly jumped out of her skin, because she felt just dead sure itmust be one of the tigers that she always believed the circus men hadnever got back. "

The three other boys roared at the picture conjured up by this vividdescription, and it was a full minute before the narrator could go onwith his story. 

"Nora she climbed down both flights of stairs like she had wings, " hewent on to tell in his humorous fashion; "seems like she must have slidfrom the top to the bottom of the upper flight. My dad ain't afraid ofanything, so me and him both armed ourselves, and we snuck up to findout what had scared the hired girl. And there was poor Nicodemus, asettin' all curled up on the bed, and blinkin' his little rat eyes atthe light we shoved into the room ahead of our guns. "

Again there was a general laugh, as if the subject appealed to theirlove for the ridiculous; and they did not consider the alarm of poorNora one little bit. 

"Of course I laughed, and my dad did the same; but he told me then andthere he had to choose between that bear cub and a good cook; and well, you know how it's always bound to turn out when a cook's in the scales. Poor Nicodemus got it in the neck. He has to go. "

Toby made a queer sound and again his hand might have been seen to pressagainst his pocket, as though he fancied he had the wherewithal rightthere to purchase the long coveted pet of Bandy-legs. 

"But what did you do with him?" asked Max. 

"Oh! nothing yet, " came the reply. "Dad he said he'd look after himwhile I was gone on this trip, but he insisted that I part with my petas soon as I came home again. So Toby, some time we'll talk it over, andyou make me a good offer. He ought to be worth something decent, even tocircus people. Bet you that Mr. Jenks'd have paid me ten dollars forhim, spot cash. "

Toby did not make any reply, but he gulped as though he could alreadysee the coveted bear cub in a nice new cage, constituting one of theattractions in his new collection, to be kept out on the farm his folksowned some miles away from Carson, and where the offensive odors thatalways go with a menagerie might not disturb any sensitive nose. 

"Ever since then, " continued Bandy-legs, thoughtfully, believing theseed had doubtless fallen upon fallow ground, and would bear fruit inseason, "our cook has been actin' queer-like. She keeps alookin' undertables all the while like she expected to see tigers and lionsacrouchin' there, ready to take a bite out of her. And she's even got tocallin' my little Nicodemus bad names. She says he's sure a chip of theOuld Nick. That's what she told me this morning, when I was getting abig pie she made for me yesterday, and which is safe in a box in thewagon here. "

"It seems to apply all right, " commented Max, "and come to think of it, Bandy-legs, I guess he is all of that. I never heard of a pet as full ofpranks as that cub is; and chances are Toby here will have his handsfull looking after him, once he changes owners. "

"T-t-try me, that's all!" Toby remarked, with the air of one who hadmade it a practical business in life to know all about wild animals, andhow best to take care of them; having heard the owner mention the sum often dollars he felt as though the bargain had already been consummated, and all that remained was for the goods to be delivered. 

They loitered there by the spring for some time, and the horse seemed torevive enough to pull through the last stage of the journey. After thatEbenezer would have a long rest of nearly a week; and much of the returntrip would prove easier, being down-hill work. 

"All aboard again!" called Max, when he thought they might as well bestarting ahead, and do some of the resting at the place they had pickedout for a camp site. So they continued along the road. 

Presently they turned off the main pike, to follow a side road thatseemed to lead up into a wild stretch of country. Here an occasionalfarm might be run across but as a rule there were woods, and then somemore woods, until one could tramp for miles and miles through stretchesof country where it seemed almost like the primeval wilderness. 

Of course most of these trees, though of fair size, were second-growthtimber. The avaricious lumberman had long ago been through all thissection, and only in patches was it possible to find any of the originalgreat trees that were possibly growing a century or two back, when thewhites were wresting this land from the possession of the Indians. 

"This begins to look like business, " Steve remarked, when they had beenfollowing this twisting road for more than a mile; "and I can see whyMax chose to bring us up here to do our camping. We'll hardly runacross a living soul, unless we go over to that farm to get eggs andmilk. And say, let me tell you there's considerable of small gamefrisking around this neck of the woods. "

"I've seen heaps of gray squirrels running up the trunks of trees, andhiding on the far side, as they always do, " Max observed. 

"And three times a cottontail bounced away, once right under my feet, "Bandy-legs added, as his quota of evidence in support of Steve'sdeclaration with regard to their finding all the game they would need, if so be they felt that it would be right to do any shooting so late inthe season. 

"That was a red fox we saw slinking off a little while back, " Stevecontinued; "and where you find that smart animal depend on it thehunting's good; for he'd clear out if it wasn't. "

"Oh! d-d-did you see that?" gasped Toby, suddenly as he thrust out ahand, and pointed straight ahead. 

Every one of them must have set eyes on the same object that had caughthis attention, for they turned and looked inquiringly at each other. Steve even leaned back and hastily secured his gun, into which withtrembling hands he commenced to push a couple of shells that were loadedwith buckshot, a dozen to each. 

"What could it have been?" Bandy-legs asked. "I just managed to ketch aglimpse of it as it disappeared in the brush, and if you gave me adollar I couldn't say whether it was a brindle dog or a hyena or what!"

"That's just the way we all feel, " Max told him. 

It could be plainly seen, however, that the boys were more or lessexcited over the prospect of some of the wild beasts from the menageriestill being at large. Indeed, who could blame them, when there was aprospect of running across a hungry tiger, a ravenous wolf, or perhaps aman-eating lion at any time in their saunterings through the aisles ofthe forest?

CHAPTER VI

THE TERRIBLE ROAR

It was all of half-past four when the boys arrived at the place selectedfor a camp. Immediately all of them became very busy, for considerablework had to be done before night set in, so that they could feel fairlycomfortable. 

One staked out the horse so that he could crop the grass, and becontented, after being watered at the spring that ran close by. This feda pond that Max told them could be reached in ten minutes or less, andwhich he believed might afford them some early fishing, if they feltinclined, as what boys would not?

The tent was quickly raised in a selected spot, where the ground slopedjust enough to shed water in case of a downpour of rain; which is one ofthe first things to consider when making a camp. 

From the way in which each fellow bustled around it was plain to be seenthat they had had considerable experience in these things, and knew justhow to set to work in order to get the camp in shipshape condition. 

Toby built a splendid stone fireplace where the cooking might be donewith a "minimum of discomfort and a maximum of pleasure, " as heremarked, though stumbling badly over the words he used to express hismeaning. 

They had a grating taken from one of the ovens at home; it was open likea broiler, and about two feet square. When placed on the stonefoundation that was to serve as a fireplace, it could not be equaled asa steady foundation for coffeepot, kettles, or fryingpan. The boys hadonce used metal rods, but found these apt to slip unexpectedly, andseveral mishaps had led Max to suggest this better way of arrangingtheir stove. 

This camping-out business is like everything else that boys run after. After a spell they are apt to tire of it, and eagerly welcome homecooking with all the frills; but there remains the longing for the open, and the smell of the burning wood, so that after a certain time haselapsed they are just as eager as ever to go out again, and put up withall manner of inconveniences in order to be free from restraint forawhile. 

From Max down to Toby all of them were bubbling over with happiness asthey started to get their first meal ready. Even Bandy-legs seemed tohave forgotten his woes in connection with Nicodemus, for he laughed andjoked with the rest. Perhaps some of that forlorn look had been artfullyassumed so as to cause Toby to believe he was breaking his heart overthe necessity of having to part company with his pet cub. It might bepossible that Bandy-legs was not so averse to getting rid of theprank-loving bear as he pretended to be. 

The night settled in around them finally, while they were still in thethroes of cooking that first supper in the woods. As this was justbefore Easter Sunday, and that event always comes immediately after afull moon, they could expect to be favored with more or less heavenlyillumination during their stay in camp. 

When later on they finally sat around to enjoy the supper that had beencooked it seemed as though their cup of happiness must be complete. Everything tasted wonderfully fine to the boys, because they had theirappetites along with them. But the surroundings no doubt had a good dealto do with it, for there was something of a tang in the air, it beingonly April; and from the woods arose a dank odor of rotting logs andleaf mold that was very pleasant to these lads. 

Then the wood they were burning was for the most part hickory, ash oroak, hard stuff every inch of it; and the fumes that were wafted intotheir faces with each change of wind, while making their eyes blink andsmart, were mighty gratifying to their sense of smell. 

Those who really love the woods never pass through city streets, and geta whiff of hard-wood smoke, but what they draw in a big breath, andimmediately picture the camp fire burning, with good chums seated aroundenjoying a tempting meal; and the boardinghouse spread looks lessappetizing than ever after that glimpse into Paradise. 

"I hope all of you have brought some lines and hooks along, " said Max, after the first edge had been taken from their hunger, and they feltdisposed to talk more or less; "because, while the bass season won'topen until the end of next month we might pick up some big pickerel inthat pond I spoke of. I've heard tall yarns about their size there, andthe savage way they take hold. "

"Fresh fish wouldn't go bad, " Steve went on to say, reflectively, as hetook a second helping of fried potatoes from one of the fryingpans, andthen fished out another nicely browned sausage from the other. 

"But seems to me it's pretty early to expect 'em to take hold, "Bandy-legs ventured to say, as he filled his tin cup from the coffeepot, and then added some condensed milk of the kind known as evaporatedcream, because it has not been sweetened in order to keep it. 

"W-w-what, for p-p-pickerel?" exclaimed Toby. "Why, they're ready tob-b-bite any old t-t-time, ain't they, Max?"

"I never knew the time when they wouldn't grab at bait, " the otherreplied. "You know they're built on the order of a pirate, and that'swhat a pickerel or a pike is, a regular buccaneer. Why, I've been out onthe ice on a big lake in winter where dozens of little cabins and tentshad been built, each sheltering a pickerel fisherman, who had as many asa dozen lines rigged through holes cut in the thick ice. "

"I've heard something about that kind of fishing, but never had a chanceto see how it was done, " Steve went on to say. 

"Tell us some more about it, won't you, Max?" Bandy-legs pleaded as wellas a fellow could who was swallowing his supper in gulps. 

"If ever you eat p-p-pickerel like you're chokin' things d-d-down rightnow, " Toby hastened to say, "you'll have a n-n-nice lot of pitchforkb-b-bones stuck in your throat, b-b-believe me, Bandy-legs. "

"Oh! guess I've eaten pickerel lots of times, " retorted the other, indignantly; "I always go slow when I'm on a fish diet, and don't youforget it. But, Max, tell us about what you saw that time. We don't getsuch fishing around here. "

"Glad of it, " muttered Steve. "There must be mighty little sport fishingthrough the ice when it's bitter cold; and I reckon all they do it foris the market. "

"You're wrong there, " Max advised him, promptly; "for while some menfish on the ice as a business, and make fair wages, many others do thesame because they like it. They even keep a little stove or a fire ofsome sort going in those cabins and tents; and let me tell you it'ssome exciting watching the tip-ups signal here and there, when the fishare hungry, and biting fast and furious. "

"Tip-ups, you call them; that has to do with the lines, don't it?" Steveasked. 

"Yes, every line is rigged so that when a fish is caught the fishermanis notified in some way or other, " Max went on to explain. "Some uselittle bells that tinkle with a bite; others have red strips of cloththat are pulled up to the top of a short stick; but the common way is tomake a crotch cut from a branch of a tree answer. It tilts up when theline is tugged, and so you know that you ought to hurry there and getyour prize. That's how they came to be called tip-ups. "

"Well, as the ice has long ago gone out of the ponds around Carson Ireckon we won't get any chance to try that queer sort of pickerelfishing, " Steve observed; "but I brought my minnow seine along, so weought to scoop up plenty of live bait, and they take with pickerel everytime. You can trust Uncle Steve for bringing in an occasional mess offresh fish. "

"H-h-how about h-h-hunting!"

"Is the law on everything, Max?" questioned Bandy-legs. 

"Pretty near everything, " came the reply; "we'll look up the game lawsin the morning, and see how we stand. I like to hunt as well as the nextone, but all the same I don't believe in shooting game out of season, and I'd only do it if I was starving, and had to save my life thatway. "

"But whether we go hunting or not, " ventured Steve, "we're all glad wethought to fetch our guns along. "

They exchanged quick glances at that. 

"Which is to say, " remarked Mas, smiling, "that you haven't settled itin your mind yet, Steve, that what we saw disappearing was some barreddog belonging to a farmer, and not a striped hyena. "

"Well, you never can tell, " Steve stubbornly contended, with a wiseshake of his head; "we know there must have been some beasts got awaythat they never did find again. Just what they were nobody seems able toagree. I've heard all sorts of guesses made; and a hyena might be one ofthe same, as well as anything. "

"They come from India, don't they?" asked Bandy-legs, smoothly. 

"Found in both Asia and Africa, " Max explained. "I'm not sure of anybeing met with in Europe, though there are plenty of wolves. They feedon carrion mostly, and are cowardly by nature; but all the same, they'renasty looking brutes, and always snarling the worst you ever heard. Itmakes your flesh creep just to hear them growl, worse than the uglytempered wildcat Toby owns. "

"Well, me to carry my Marlin wherever I go up here, " announced Steve;"and if it happens that I run foul of a striped beast, that I don't likethe looks of, you'll see me knocking the spots out of him first, andthen finding afterwards what his breed is. If he turns out to be a plaindog, then he's paid the penalty for looking like one of these hyenas, that's all. "

"D-d-don't you hear 'em?" asked Toby just then. 

Steve and Bandy-legs made as though ready to reach out for their guns, placed conveniently near; but hesitated when they saw that Toby wasgrinning, and showed no signs of being worried. 

"F-f-frogs, and heaps of the same over there in that p-p-pond you wastelling us about, Max. Yum! Yum! reckon now I'm in f-f-for some g-g-goodfeasts. "

All of them could now catch a distant croaking that announced the factas stated by the observant Toby; and they knew that with that pond soclose by they would be apt to take all the bullfrogs they wanted duringtheir stay. 

"But we didn't fetch that little target gun along, " remarked Bandy-legs, regretfully. 

"Don't need it, " Steve told him; "do we, Max?"

"Not that I can see, " answered the one appealed to; "I've got a piece ofred flannel with me, and some hooks. All you have to do is to cut a longpole, tie a stout line about two feet long to the end, with one of thehooks attached; and then fix a small clipping of the red stuff to thehook. When you see a big greenback on the edge of the water sneak upbehind him, lower the flannel gently until it dangles in front of him, and you'll see some of the funniest happenings you ever set eyes on;that is they'll be funny to you, but death to the frog. "

"I've caught 'em that way many a time, " Steve told them. "Sometimes theold frog will crouch down like a cat sneaking up on a sparrow, and thenmake a fling up at the bright thing, which I reckon he thinks must be ajuicy sort of a bug. As soon as he feels the barb of the hook he triesto climb up the line and jump all around like a trapeze performer. Butonly a cruel fellow would stand and watch him suffer. I always try toknock him on the head instanter, and get his boots in my creel. "

"That's the only way, " Max added, approvingly. "Even a sportsman can bemerciful to his game by putting it out of pain as quick as possible. "

"I always do when I've shot anything I want for food, " Bandy-legs vowed. 

"And me, I always c-c-carry a little c-c-club along when I g-g-gofishing, " Toby declared, proudly. 

"Hear him, fellows?" exclaimed Bandy-legs, pretending not to understand;"he must think he's a policeman, and meaning to knock every sleepingtramp on the soles of his feet to wake him up. "

"It's to k-k-knock the fish on the h-h-head after you've c-c-caught thesame!" Toby hastened to inform him, grandly, as became a humanesportsman. 

"Any more coffee in that pot, Max?" Steve asked, passing his cup along, for he certainly had a weakness for the "ambrosia" as he often calledit, though never allowed more than one helping at home, and then only atbreakfast. 

The meal went on to its close, and while in the start it had seemed asthough the eyes of the cooks had been much greater than their capacityfor stowing food away, judging from the minute amount that was wasted itwould seem that they knew better; or else that the average boy's stomachdoes stretch away down into his lower extremities, as some people claim. 

"That was a hunky-dory supper, all right, " Steve admitted, as he laylazily back on his blanket, and commenced to pick his teeth after themanner of one who has dined well, and is perfectly at peace with thewhole world. 

"Best I've had since the last time we ate grub together, " Bandy-legsadded, as his quota of praise, although he had been one of the cooks. 

"And that was up in the Great North Woods, when we spent that joyfultime with Trapper Jim, wasn't it!" Max suggested. 

"I'd sure like mighty well to repeat that trip some of these fine days, "Steve told them, "but I reckon we never will, because there are so manyother temptations all around us. And seems like we might squeeze all thefun we can manage out of this little vacation. Here we are, away offfrom everywhere, and if we want we can just think we're camping in theheart of Africa, with wild beasts all around us and savage Hottentots orZulu warriors waiting to take us by surprise. "

Steve liked to indulge in these little flights of fancy once in a while. His imagination sometimes ran away with him; but he seemed to getconsiderable of enjoyment out of the idea. 

Hardly had he ceased speaking on the present occasion than each one ofthe four boys sat upright, and seemed to be straining his hearing to theutmost, as though some sound had come to them then and there that causedsurprise, even consternation. 

"S-s-say, w-w-whatever was that n-n-noise like thunder?" asked Toby, blankly. 

Steve looked puzzled. 

"That's what's got my goat, Toby, " he remarked in a perplexed tone ofvoice; it might be one thing or another, but it sure wasn't thunder. "As for me, now, I'm racking my poor brains to guess whether it couldonly have been a farmer's bull bellowing away off there; or we sat hereand actually, listened to a savage African lion at large!"

His words appalled every one, and it was well that supper had beeneaten, else their appetites might have suffered a decided slump. 

CHAPTER VII

THE QUEER ACTIONS OF STEVE

"Listen, and see if it comes again!" said Bandy-legs, with bated breath. 

The four campers sat there for several tense minutes, each one almostholding his breath in the effort to train his ears so as not to miss theslightest sound that might come. 

"Whoo--whoo--whoo!"

After all their great expectations, to hear this solemn cry from thedepths of the woods made several of the chums chuckle. 

"Good evening, Mister Owl!" Bandy-legs called out, with mock respect. "Hope all the little Owls are feeling quite well to-night. Glad to haveus for company, are you? Well, we're just tickled to death to be withyou, believe me. "

"But s-s-say, that wasn't what we heard the other t-t-time!" objectedToby, in some dismay, as though he feared he might have been dreadfullydeceived by mistaking the booming hoot of a horned owl for the roar of alion. 

"Oh! no, of course not, Toby, " Max hastened to assure him; "but it seemsas though there isn't going to be any _encore_ to that other noise. "

"Then h-h-how are we agoin' to decide w-w-what it was?"

"We might take a vote, and see how we stand on it, " laughed Max. 

"Bull or lion, eh?" suggested Steve. 

"There's a few clouds floating around loose, " remarked Bandy-legs, asthough in an uncertain state himself; "and p'raps after all that was agrumble of faraway thunder. "

"S-s-s'pose somebody could be doin' blastin' up around here?"

This was a new idea that appealed to Toby. He sometimes startled hiscomrades by having an original thought. 

"That isn't such an impossible thing after all, Toby, " admitted Max, after considering it for a brief time; "although so far as I'm concernedI don't think it was either thunder, or a blast. "

"That brings us back to the original question--bull or lion?" Stevepursued. 

"We may never know which, if it isn't repeated, " Bandy-legs observed, sagely; for not wanting to be outdone by Toby he had racked his brain invain to find another possible explanation, and had to give it up. 

"Well, whoever goes for eggs and milk to-morrow, " began Max, "ought tomake a little investigation on his own account. Perhaps he might manageto pick up a few points that will help us decide this mystery. "

"You m-m-mean ask the f-f-farmer whether he k-k-keeps a bull, or aroarin' old l-l-lion in his b-b-barn?"

"Ask about the bull, anyway, " Max told him. "And if we learn that he'sthe owner of such an animal, find out if the beast gives a bellow oncein a while. "

"All right, that's settled then, " Steve announced. "If I happen to beone of the pair chosen to take that little excursion I'll put it upstraight to the old hayseed, and learn the truth. But say, hadn't webetter be changing the subject some, fellows. It isn't always a goodthing to get talking _too_ seriously about things like this just beforeyou drop off to bed. "

"W-w-why?" asked Toby, suspiciously, for he had noticed that Stevegrinned somewhat when saying this, and gave him a quick look. 

"Oh! well, " the other continued, "you never can tell what sort of animpression things make on one's mind, and are carried with you intodreamland. I've done some queer stunts myself away back when I had thebad habit of seeing things in my sleep. And I know a fellow who thoughthe was in the heart of Africa watching the savage beasts come down to awaterhole to drink, and then getting up in the morning to discover thewhole shooting-match had taken up quarters in his back yard. You neverknow what's going to happen. "

"That's right, you don't, " added Bandy-legs, and shaking his forefingerat Toby dramatically he continued: "Now see here, Toby, just you quitdreaming about lions and elephants and rhinoceroses and such things. Dreams come true sometimes. Think we want to wake up in the mornin' tofind a lion sitting on that stump over there; a striped jungle tigerperched in this tree waiting for his breakfast; and an old rogueelephant spoutin' water from our creek all over the camp? Just startthinking of apple pies, custards and that sort of thing, and sleepsound. "

Toby only grinned back at him, and made no reply. 

"How about keeping watch to-night?" remarked Steve, some time later. 

"Oh! I don't believe that's absolutely necessary, " Max informed him. 

"Some of us are light sleepers anyway, " suggested Bandy-legs. 

"That's me, as a rule!" Steve instantly declared; "and a cat couldn'twalk across the floor of my room without me waking up and asking who wasthere. Then again it seems as if when I hit the hay I never know a thingtill daylight comes. They may tell me we had a heavy storm in the middleof the night, but it didn't faze me one little bit. I don't know whythat should be, unless it depends on what I've been eating for supper. "

"Well, " Max told him, "let's hope then that this is going to be one ofthe nights when you're on guard, and that if anything tried to carryToby off you'll hear him let out a yell. "

"And then, Steve, remember we've got some prime provisions with us, thatmight tempt a hungry 'coon or a fox. If so be you hear stealthyfootfalls like padded feet, get your gun ready to shoot. "

"I will, Bandy-legs, never you fear, " Steve informed him. "Somethingtells me this is going to be one of my wakeful nights; so the rest ofyou can sleep right along as comfy as bugs in a rug. I'll do thewatching for the crowd. "

Max made no further comment, but had Steve noticed the raising of hiseyebrows, and the smile that flitted across his face, he might havesuspected that the other entertained serious doubts concerning thewisdom of depending wholly on his continuing to be on the alert duringthat coming period when the rest of them would give themselves up tosound slumber. 

In other words Max had privately determined that it was up to him tokeep his finger on the pulse of passing events. He too was a lightsleeper, once he had impressed the fact upon his mind that there wasneed of keeping on the alert; and few movements could take place in campwithout Max being wise to them. 

All due preparations had been completed looking to a period of calm. Thehorse was staked in a fresh spot, where he could eat to his heart'scontent; and such of their provisions that they thought might temptprowling animals they had hung on the limbs of adjacent trees, in suchpositions as seemed to insure their safety. 

"Of course, " said Steve, the last thing before crawling into the tent, "if there should happen to be a lion hanging around he'd gobble poor oldEbenezer the first thing. So if you hear a trampling and a neighing inthe night, look out; also wake me up so I c'n have a finger in the pie. That's all from me. "

He settled himself comfortably in his blanket, and seemed bent on goingto sleep immediately, so that the others copied his excellent example. These boys had been through the mill so often that long ago they learnedthe folly of playing pranks, or "cutting up" after it was finallydecided to seek their beds. 

Several times did Max open his eyes and lift his head as some slightsound came to his sensitive ears. 

Once it was a mysterious tapping on the canvas which made him smile, forhe guessed readily enough that it must be some curious 'coon trying tofind out what this bulky object might be that had invaded his preserveswithout so much as asking permission. 

The second time was more puzzling, for he could not just say what hadaroused him. On listening intently, however, he discovered that Ebenezermust have gotten to his feet again after a little rest, and started tocropping the grass once more; and that it was his rope catching in somelittle shoot on the ground and being suddenly released that made therustling sounds. 

There came a third time for Max to awaken. 

It was not any outside sound that aroused him now, but a movement_inside_ the tent. 

The moon must be shining brightly, for it was far from dark or gloomyunder the canvas, and he could plainly see what was transpiring. 

Something ailed Steve, for he was beginning to get to his feet, withoutmaking a sound. Max lay there, and watched him curiously. Was Steveuneasy, and did he mean to step out so as to take a look around, impelled by thoughts of that lion being at large?

This was the first idea that flashed through the mind of the watcher;but he speedily found reason to change it. Steve did not pick up hislittle Marlin shotgun, as it might be expected he would do if he meantto take a turn around, and see whether anything was stirring. 

Then perhaps he had found himself thirsty, and was going for a drink tothe nearby spring. Still, if this were so Max wondered at him for notthinking to take some weapon along, for there was no telling but what hemight need it. 

Now Steve was crawling silently out of the tent; and curious to knowwhat it could mean, Max hastened to copy his example. When he wished, hecould do some excellent stalking, and although Steve might have a goodpair of ears he certainly showed no evidence of hearing any one comeafter him. 

When Max found himself outside he saw the other moving softly away. Hewas in his bare feet, not having taken the time to slip on his shoes, asMax had done. This in itself looked queer. Steve ought to know thatwalking was not the most pleasant thing imaginable when goingbarefooted, even for such a short distance as lay between the spring andthe tent. 

The night air was also pretty chilly for a fellow clad only in pajamas, and coming fresh from a warm blanket. Yet Steve did not seem to mindthat little thing, for he was moving steadily along, like an Indianbrave going to the grand powwow. 

Max had been thoughtful enough to take his blanket along with him; notonly that but he had also picked up his rifle which was lyingconveniently near; for Max had a streak of caution in his composition, and did not like to be taken unawares. 

Well, there was Steve moving in the direction where they went to gettheir water. The tent had not been pitched exactly on the border of thelittle brooklet that ran from the bubbling spring, because there wasreally no necessity of this; and besides, the ground just there was notso well adapted to such a purpose. 

"If he's after a drink well and good, " Max was saying to himself as hestarted after the other boy; "and since the thing had been mentioned Ibelieve I'm some thirsty myself, so that I could stand a gulp or two. That's mighty nice water, and we don't get anything as good in Carson. But Steve does act queer, for a fact. I wonder now if he can be up tohis old tricks again. "

Now, in times past Steve had been addicted to the bad habit of doingconsiderable walking in his sleep. He was himself fully convinced thathe had outgrown the trouble; but Max believed it was liable to crop upagain under certain conditions favorable to its growth, especially ifhis mind should happen to be worried. 

In this case it could hardly be that, because he had not taken his gunalong, as he might have done, if possessed by the idea that lions wereprowling near, and that it was his duty, as the guardian self-appointedof the camp, to go out and scare them away. 

Max noticed that the moon did not stay out all the time. It was prettywell up in the heavens by this time, and he figured from that it must besomewhere in the neighborhood of one o'clock; for long ago Max hadlearned the useful woodsman way of telling time very closely byobserving the passage of the stars, and the moon, across the blue canopyoverhead. 

There were batches of clouds that from time to time drifted across thebright silvery face of the moon; and when this occurred a period of halfdarkness was apt to ensue. 

But Max had no difficulty in keeping Steve in full view. This wasrendered easy by the fact that the chum's pajamas were of a light color, and could be readily seen against the darker background of the forest. 

Just as Max had suspected, he was making a bee-line for the spring. Awake or asleep, Steve was undoubtedly thirsty, and meant to indulge ina drink. Max had never heard of any one doing this when walking in theirsleep; but he could remember Steve carrying out some very odd stuntswhile in this dormant condition, and he guessed it was possible. 

He drew a little closer, though not meaning to do anything to arouse theother, who after getting his drink would possibly meekly return to thetent. In the morning Max would accuse him of sleepwalking, and if Steveindignantly denied it, Max could ask him to look at his feet, and demandif he was in the habit of going to bed with the soil of the woods on hissoles. 

All this flashed through the mind of the boy who followed close on theheels of the leader. He even decided to stand where Steve must surelynotice him on his return, and in this way it would be easily settledwhether the other were awake or walking in his sleep. 

It is so easy to make plans, and yet the best of these may be smashed bysome little unexpected happening. 

So it was in this case. 

Steve had almost reached the spring when all at once a shrill scoldingscreech rang out, cutting the stillness as with a sharp knife. 

Max heard a heavy sound as of something striking the ground. He alsocaught the flutter of some hairy form that seemed to vanish amidst thebranches of the big tree under which Steve chanced to be at the time. 

It all happened so quickly, and without the least warning, that althoughMax was considered a very speedy boy, acting like a flash in a warmlycontested game of baseball, he did not think to raise the gun he wasgripping in one hand, holding his blanket about him with the other, until the _thing_, whatever it might be, was gone from his sight. 

Steve had come to a rigid standstill the very second that screech madethe echoes ring through the aisles of the forest; he seemed startled, amazed and apparently frozen stiff in his tracks. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE MYSTERIOUS HAM THROWER

"Where am I? Oh! what was that fell alongside me? Who's throwing stones?Hello! Max, Toby, Bandy-legs, where are you all at?"

Steve had found his tongue apparently, and was shouting all this at thetop of his voice. Max thought it high time he showed himself, so as toquiet the excitable chum. 

"All right, Steve; I'm here at your elbow, you see, " he remarked, stepping out into plainer view. "You've only been up to your old tricksagain, and walking in your sleep. I think you must have had a bad caseof thirst, for you started straight for the spring, and you see younearly got there. "

"You don't say?" ejaculated Steve, looking down in some dismay at hisbare feet, and his now shivering figure, clad only in thin pajamas. "Butwhat happened, Max? Sure that was a terrible screech that woke me up;and I tell you I heard some heavy thing bump on the ground close by me!"

"So did I, Steve, " added the other; "let's look and see. "

Five seconds later and Max gave utterance to a bubbling cry. 

"Great Caesar!" exclaimed Steve, staring at the object the other bentover and picked up; "this is the funniest thing that ever happened tome, Max. Why, if it ain't raining _hams_ up here in the woods! Somefarmer's smoke-house must have blown up, and we get the benefit. "

"Wait a little, Steve, " said Max, solemnly; "take another look, willyou? Perhaps you'll notice that this is only half a ham. "

"Why, so it is, Max. "

"Look closer, and tell me if you've ever seen it before, " Max continued, holding the smoked meat up so that Steve could see better. 

"Ginger!"

"Oh! then you recognize it, do you, Steve?"

"Why, yes, I seem to, Max, " admitted the other, staring first at thesection of ham and then upwards toward the tree from which it hadapparently descended, aimed so as to strike him; "but what's _our_ hamdoing away off here, tell me that, will you? We didn't fasten it to thistree, but the one close to our tent; so we'd know if anything camenosing, around. "

"All right, Steve; it looks as if something did come nosing around, without any one of us being the wiser. And that creature, whatever itmay have been, was carrying the ham away when it thought you must befollowing below; so what does it do but let out a screech of fury, andwhang, the ham straight down at you. "

"Gee! ain't I glad though he didn't happen to be the pitcher of hisnine, because he might have made a better shot; and if that seven poundpiece of smoked pork had taken me on the coco I'd have seen more starsthan there are up above us now. "

"Yes, Steve, it's sometimes better to be born lucky than rich, " Max toldhim; "but there the other boys are calling to us, and wanting to knowwhat it's all about. As you're beginning to shiver you'd better turnaround and trot back to where you left your blanket, don't you think?"

Steve had a terribly stubborn streak in his composition. He proved itright then and there. 

"I'm shivering, all right, " he remarked, with chattering teeth, "but Ireckon it's more because of the excitement than that I'm cold. Anyway, if I had the good sense to make my way out here in my sleep just becauseI was thirsty, why, seems like it'd be too bad to get disappointed; soI'm going to have a drink, no matter what happens. "

With which he deliberately passed on a dozen paces, reached the spring, and taking the tin cup they kept there proceeded to slake his thirst. Max could not help admiring his grit, even though believing that Stevewould be wiser if he forgot his thirst and hurried to the shelter of hisblanket. 

"Course you mean to carry the ham back with you, Max?" he inquired, ashe once more joined the other. 

"I should say so, " Max told him; "and after this we'll have to be morecareful about our smoked meat, unless we want to feed every animal uphere. They're smart enough to get on to that racket of hanging it from alimb. We'll keep it inside the tent, and they can only get it bycreeping over us as we sleep, which would be a risky thing to do, I'mthinking. "

"Any idea what sort of a thing that animal in the tree was?" askedSteve, as he cast an uneasy look aloft, doubtless wondering whether thefierce beast held a grudge against him for having caused it torelinquish its dinner; so that after that he would be a marked boy. 

"I couldn't say, " Max replied, slowly. "I only had a glimpse ofsomething moving up there, and then it was gone. The moon happened to bebehind a cloud at the time, and that helped to fool me. All I can say isthat it was a big animal, and not a 'coon or 'possum. "

"Whew! some people keep on saying they never did get that tiger backafter the storm set the animals free from the cages, " Steve said, uneasily. 

"Hello! there, what's all this row about?" Bandy-legs called out justthen, for the returning pair had drawn near the khaki colored tent, where they discovered their chums standing with guns in their hands, andblankets swathed around their lightly clad figures, looking for all theworld like a couple of mummies, or as Max afterwards told them, likeMexican peons with their ponchos. 

"Yes, that's what we want to k-k-know!" added Toby. 

"Oh! Steve here got thirsty while he was sleeping, and stepped out to goto the spring for a drink, " Max informed them. "I happened to see him, and took a notion I'd follow and see that he didn't come to any harm. Then some animal up in a tree, thinking Steve was going to get afterhim, threw this down to him, and let out a screech that beat anythingI've heard this long while. "

"Why, that's a half a ham!" ejaculated the astonished Bandy-legs. 

"_Our_ h-h-ham, in the b-b-bargain!" shrilled Toby. 

"Just what it is, " Max continued; "you see, the rascal had actuallystolen it, and was making off when he saw Steve below, and got angry. Itcame mighty near hitting our chum on the head, which would have flooredhim good and hard. So he was lucky to escape as he did. "

"And we're lucky to get our ham back!" Bandy-legs argued, as thoughafter all that were the main point--which from a boy's standpoint itcertainly was. 

Meanwhile Steve had dodged under the canvas, and presently reappeared, also swathed in his blanket. He was still too much excited to think ofsleeping, and consequently meant to stand it out with the rest. Perhapscuriosity had also something to do with the matter, for he would wish toknow what Bandy-legs and Toby thought about the species of animal thathad carried their smoked meat off. 

Their tongues did certainly wag at a great rate for a spell. All sortsof suggestions were made, some of them fairly good, and others borderingon the ridiculous. Toby was for believing that it must have been atiger, or at the very least one of those terrible spotted leopards theyremembered seeing walking up and down in its cage, as though alwayshoping to get out to its missing mate. 

"And they s-s-say leopards have got the w-w-worst k-k-kind of tempers, "he insisted, when some of the others threw doubt on this idea. 

"Well, whatever it is, " Max concluded, "it acted like it was mad atSteve here for walking in his sleep. "

"Don't blame the critter much, either, " muttered Bandy-legs; "becauseany feller that would be guilty of doing such monkey-shines ought tohave a whole ham flung at his head every time. "

"Hold on there, " said Steve, sharply; "that's always the way with youfellows. Why, you ought to be voting me a bunch of thanks right now, instead of hauling me over the coals like you're doing. "

"Oh! is that so, Steve?" cried Bandy-legs, with considerable of satirein his voice. 

"Sure it is, " the other went on to say, unblushingly. "Supposin' now I'djust continued to hit the hay, and snored on like you two seemed to havedone, what's the answer?"

Bandy-legs and Toby exchanged puzzled looks. 

"W-w-whatever do you m-m-mean, Steve?" asked the latter. 

"How about that fine ham? When, you looked around everywhere for itto-morrow morning and couldn't find the same high or low, you'd wishSteve Dowdy might have had a little walking fit on, and saved your baconfor you, eh?"

Max laughed at hearing that. 

"I guess Steve's got it on you, boys, this time, " he remarked. "It seemsthat in some cases walking in your sleep may turn out to be the rightthing. We do owe him something, because it saved our ham this time. Butall the same he's got to stop the habit before it gets him into a peckof trouble. "

"I s-s-say we p-p-put a rope on him nights, " Toby ventured, withemphasis. "Then if he tries to s-s-slope he'll find himself p-p-pulledup with a round turn. "

"Hey, you just try it, that's all!" Steve told him. "What d'ye take mefor, a horse, to be staked out nights, or hobbled and all that? I giveyou fair warning right now that whenever we're in danger of losing someof our belongings, if I take a notion to step out and walk in my sleepin order to save the same, I'm going to do it. Get that, don't you, Bandy-legs?"

In spite of all their exchange of views it seemed that after all theywere no nearer a reasonable solution of the puzzle than in the start. 

"We'll look around in the morning and see if it left any tracks, " Maxsuggested, after it seemed as though they had reached the finish of thematter so far as deciding on the species of animal went. 

"That's the best thing said yet, " ventured Steve; "and as usual it wasleft for Max to hit in with it. So, let's see if we can go to sleepagain. "

They crawled inside the tent and adjusted their blankets again. Maxnoticed that Bandy-legs changed his position somewhat. As he now lay noone could crawl out of the tent by way of the regular exit withoutbrushing across his recumbent figure more or less. The other did not sayanything as to why he did this, but Max could give a pretty good guess. 

Steve was too sleepy to pay any attention to what was going on, or hemight have taken Bandy-legs to task for trying to play sentry over him, knowing that he must be in the other's mind when he laid this trap. 

"We want you to notice, Steve, " Bandy-legs told him the last thing, "that Max fetched a bucket of fresh water in from the spring just now;and so if you happen to get thirsty again before morning, just helpyourself. It'll save you a lot of trouble. "

"Well, seeing that we've got all our grub inside here now, and there'snothing more to be hooked, I guess I'll keep quiet. But you want to becareful how you steal my thunder when the credit's passing around. "

Saying which, Steve hid his head under the folds of his blanket, andthey knew he had spoken his last word. 

The others relapsed into silence, and before long all of them had gonesoundly asleep. Nor was there any further alarm during the balance ofthat first night in camp. 

When Mas crawled out again dawn had come, and in fact the sun waspeeping up in the east. First Max looked to see that Ebenezer was allright; for he had felt a little uneasy concerning the horse. He foundthat the animal was already beginning to gather in what grass lay aroundhim, and apparently had not a care in the wide world. 

Then the next thing he did was to pass over to the tree in which theyhad secured the ham and bacon, although later on removing everything toa more secure place of storage inside the tent. 

Max carefully examined the ground underneath this tree. He was a prettyfair woodsman, and believed he could easily discover any imprint ofpadded feet such as would indicate the presence of a tiger. But in spiteof going over every yard of the soil as much as three times, Max wasfinally obliged to admit that there did not seem to be any clue. Hecould not find any track such as would tell of an animal having beenthere on the previous night. 

This set him to thinking along another line. Apparently then the beastmust have entered the tree from another one close by. It was reasonable, and he saw it could have been easily done by even a gray squirrel, forthe branches interlocked in several places. 

This seemed the more convincing when Max remembered that the ham hadbeen flung bodily out of another tree, showing that the thief was makingoff without touching the ground at the time. 

"Well, seems like it's going to keep right on being a mystery, " Max toldhimself as he gave the quest up; "just as that roaring sound last nightmay never be solved. Perhaps there are a number of strange wild beastsat large up here; and that our little outing is going to be an excitingone after all. "

"Yes, " added Steve, who had come out of the tent in time to hear Max saythe last of this, "and don't it beat all how things do come around ourway, to give us a grand time? When you look back for the time we've beenchumming together you can see heaps of happenings that other fellowswould give most anything to have cross their trail. But we've got nearlya whole week up here to ourselves, Max; and I say it will be mightyfunny if we can't guess the answer to a silly little question like this:Who killed Cock Robin? Or take it the other way, Who tried to knock mybrains out with half a ham! And listen here, another night I'm meaningto sit up and see if I can't get a crack at the miserable old thief withmy Marlin gun. He'll be sorry the rest of his natural life if he comesnosing around here again. "

Steve meant every word he spoke, and Max could see that he had beenconsiderably worked up by what had happened. 

Of course they would have numerous other things to engage theirattention during this, their first day in camp; but nevertheless fromtime to time their thoughts must go out toward the little mystery bywhich they were confronted; and this was apt to start fresh talk aboutsolving the same. 

CHAPTER IX

"MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE!"

That was indeed a busy day for all of the boys in camp. 

They had numerous things that they wished to do, and turned from one toanother in rotation. It might have been noticed too, that they were alittle nervous for all they made light of the possibility of meetingsome strange beast whenever they went away from the camp ground. 

This was shown particularly when Steve and Toby took a notion during themiddle of the morning that they would try the fishing over at the pond. If the pickerel declined to bite they might at least pick up somegood-sized frogs; so they went prepared for both things; but they alsotook their guns along, which was a little strange, because they wouldhardly need them in trying to land either fish or frogs. 

Steve had his minnow seine, with which they could doubtless secureplenty of live bait. Then from selected positions along the bank theymeant to cast their lines out, hoping to land a few finny prizes thatwould vary the bill of fare for supper. 

All of this was carried out to the letter; the minnows were easilysecured, and kept alive in a little shallow pond made by banking up mudon the border of the larger sheet of water. Then they baited theirhooks, and cast out, with the fisherman's habitual hope actuating theiractions. 

The pickerel proved to be both hungry and accommodating, for they soonbegan to take hold savagely. Several fine fish were landed after afierce struggle that afforded the anglers more or less pleasure; andthey felt encouraged to keep up the sport, assured of plenty for a meal. 

When the fish were taken from the hooks they were strung on a stoutcord, and kept in the water, so that they would remain fresh longer. Toby would not keep far away from this place long at a time. 

"What ails you anyway?" Steve several times called out; "why don't youtry a new place like I do?"

Finally the stuttering boy condescended to inform him. 

"S-s-seems like this place is as g-g-good as any, " he said; "and thenp'raps you think I've g-g-gone and forgot all about how that b-b-beargot away with our fish the time we were up at Trapper Jim's p-p-place?"

"Oh! then you're half expecting to have a big bear step out of thatbrush yonder, and start to carrying away our catch, eh?" Steve demanded. "Well, perhaps it might happen, who knows? After a fellow's gone and hadhalf a ham thrown at his head by some animal up in a tree he's ready tobelieve near anything. If one does come, Toby, be sure you give a yelpso I could get started on the run. Bear steak wouldn't go halfway bad;and it'd be all the same if he was tame or wild, I'm thinking. "

Although after that both boys continued to keep one suspicious eye onthe neighboring woods, and made sure that their guns were always ready, nothing happened. It might be they were somewhat disappointed, becauseboth had a streak of love for adventure in their composition, and wouldpossibly have welcomed the excitement that must follow the appearance ofa real live bear. 

The string of pickerel and perch they carried back to camp aroused theothers to enthusiastically admit that Steve and Toby certainly took thepremium for catching the wary denizens of the pond. They foundthemselves delegated to repeat the performance on succeeding days, aslong as their appetite for fresh fish remained good. 

That afternoon Toby set to work making what he confidentially told Stevewas to be a trap. If the unknown animal came prowling around again onthe ensuing night, perhaps it would be sorry for trespassing without aninvitation. 

Just what sort of an arrangement this was going to be he would notdeclare, but promised to explain it all to them later on. 

"Who'll go with me over to the farmer's, to get some fresh eggs andmilk?" asked Max, a short time after they had eaten lunch. 

"Now don't all look at me that way, " Bandy-legs remarked, "because I'mready to be the victim as soon as I get my second wind, which'll be inabout half an hour longer. "

"That's always the way with him, " Steve complained; "he eats so muchthat for a whole hour or so he's just logy, and not fit for anything. Now Toby and me think we did our share when we caught that nice lot offish this morning. "

"Didn't you hear me say I was meaning to go with Max!" demanded theother, bridling up. "Well, there's no need for hurrying so. It's a longwalk there and back. I'm just wondering whether we ought to take a gunalong. "

"What for, to shoot the bull if you meet him?" asked scornful Steve. 

"Oh! you never can tell, " replied the other; "and I noticed that you wasmighty careful to lug yours along when you went after fish. Thought abig pickerel'd jump out of the water and chase you, p'raps. Careful howyou let fish take a bite out of your leg, ain't you? Well, we might runacross some savage animal that'd be a heap worse than a pickerel's sharpteeth. "

"I'll carry a gun if you think best, " Max remarked; "but as we'll haveeggs and milk to tote back with us it might be in the way. "

"Just as you say, Max, " Bandy-legs continued, nodding to himself in awise way, as though he had determined on a certain course for himself, which he did not consider it necessary to explain to all the rest. 

When the two left camp Steve was climbing a tree with the avowedintention of closely examining the limb from which the smoked meat hadbeen hung. 

"A cat, big or little, has got _claws_, " he remarked, as if to explainhis actions; "and I guess it might leave some scratches on the bark thatwould help explain things. Anyhow no harm done trying to see how far mytheory will go. Good luck, fellows, and don't you get lost now. "

"No danger of that when Max is along, " replied Bandy-legs, confidently, as he and his chum strode away. 

They knew the location of the farm, because several times that morningthere had been borne to their ears the distant barking of a watchdog;and Max had taken special pains to locate the direction from which thesound came. All they would have to do was to keep heading straight intothe west until they struck the cleared ground, when the rest would beeasy enough. 

"The boys have promised to keep the fire going while we're gone, " Maxtold his comrade, as they walked along in company, following what seemedto be a fair trail that led in the right direction, "and to feed it withgreen wood pretty much all the time. "

"Green wood!" echoed Bandy-legs, looking puzzled. 

"So as to make more of a black smoke, which will be of considerable helpto us in finding our way back to camp, " Max informed him. 

"Ok, yes, I see, " Bandy-legs went on, shooting a look full of admirationtoward his companion; "it certainly does take you to think up the bestthings ever. Now, that wouldn't have occurred to me in a thousandyears. "

"This walking isn't so bad after all, is it?" asked Max, quick to changethe subject when he saw signs of the other breaking out in praise of hiswoodcraft. 

"That's right, " his chum admitted; "only I hope we don't meet up withanything that's going to make us sorry we didn't fetch a gun along. "

"Not much chance of that, " Max argued. 

"But then you know there _is_ something loose in this neck of the woodsthat's got us guessing. What it can be beats my time. A tiger'd mostlikely pounced on poor old Ebenezer, and paid mighty little attention toour smoked meat; he'd want the fresh stuff right off the reel. "

Bandy-legs making a misstep just about then, and almost rolling down alittle declivity, found that he had better pay more attention to hisgait and talk less; so for some time they walked along in silence. 

"There, did you hear that?" Max asked him, presently. 

"It certainly was a rooster crowing, " the other admitted. 

"And right ahead of us, too, " Max continued; "which goes to show thatwe've been hitting the right trail. "

"No thanks to me though, Max, because if I'd followed my bent we'd havechanged our course more than six times. I thought I knew something aboutkeeping a straight track, but I'm away off. "

Some boys seem to take to these things just as naturally as a duck doesto water. There are others who do not appear to have the elements inthem for making woodsmen, no matter how much they try. Bandy-legs wasapparently of this latter class. Now and then he might flash up, and dosomething creditable, but it was only to fall back into his old carelessways again, and depend on others to do the hard thinking for him. 

Five minutes later, and he gave a little shout. 

"There's the farmhouse ahead of us, Max, with all the outbuildings inthe bargain. Hope we can get the eggs and milk all right, because we'vecome a long way for the same. And there isn't anything I like betterwhen camping out than plenty of hen fruit, together with the lactealfluid from the cows. Whew! here's trouble with a big T all right! Lookat the size of that Towser makin' for us, would you? Let him take abite, and there wouldn't be much calf left. "

"Ok! I don't know, you're pretty good-sized, Bandy-legs, " said Max witha chuckle; but all the same he looked about him, and hastened to pickup a stout stick that chanced to be lying near by. 

"Where's the mate to that, Max; see anything for me around? We've got toteach him we believe in the old motto, 'Millions for defense; not onecent for tribute. ' What about those guns of ours; wouldn't they come inhandy right now to keep him off! Get out, you scamp; what are you makingstraight for me about? I haven't lost any dog that I know of. Why don'tyou sick Max there; he's got something for you. Hi! keep away, I tellyou!"

The large and savage dog seemed bent on taking a firm grip ofBandy-legs. Perhaps he may have rather fancied his build, and believedit would be easier to pounce on a boy with bow-legs than another whostood five foot-ten in height. Then again the fact that Max was swingingthat stout stick vigorously may have had more or less to do with thebeast selecting the shorter chum as his intended victim. 

Bandy-legs skipped about in a lively fashion, trying to keep himselfaway from "entangling alliances" with those shiny white teeth. He alsosucceeded in giving the animal several hard kicks; but instead ofdiscouraging the beast this rough reception seemed to make him the moredetermined to accomplish his purpose. 

Max could hardly follow their movements, they swung around so rapidly. He meant to rush in at the very first opening, so as to rescue hischum, for he saw that Bandy-legs was in a pretty bad way, with thatsavage brute leaping again and again at him. 

He might get his legs twisted as he sometimes did, and take a fall, whenthe dog would pounce on him like a shot, and perhaps mangle him badly. For this reason Max was bent on joining issue with the dog, and lettinghim feel the hardness of the club he had picked up. 

There was no chance for him to do this, good though his intentions mayhave been. 

Suddenly in the midst of the savage growling and chasing about he heardBandy-legs cry out exultantly:

"You will have it, then? Now, there's five more left if you're greedy!"

Hardly had he spoken than the big dog began to howl most mournfully. Maxcould hardly believe his eyes when he saw him writhing and twisting asif in agony, at the same time trying to rub his head with his forepaws. 

"What did you do to him?" Max cried; but he might just as well havesaved his breath, for he saw what Bandy-legs was holding up, and he knewthat the other had been wise enough to fetch along with him a littlesquirtgun called an "ammonia pistol, " which those on bicycles who aretroubled by dogs chasing them, often carry in order to teach the brutesa much needed lesson. 

It may seem cruel to send a charge of pungent ammonia or hartshorn intothe eyes of a dog, but used with discretion such punishment is farbetter than that the rider suffer a fall and possibly a broken neck, orbe mauled by a savage brute which he has not harmed in the least. 

"Good-bye, Towser, old fellow!" cried Bandy-legs, mockingly, as the dogstarted full-tilt for the farmhouse, yelping dolefully as he ran. "Nexttime get wise to the fact that things ain't always as green as theylook. Took me for an easy mark, didn't you, but if I am a little crookedabout the pins, that doesn't mean I'm not on to a few games. Come againwhen you can't stay so long. Tra-la-la!"

Bandy-legs was evidently in a good humor, and felt like shaking handswith himself. To get out of a bad scrape, and without the least bit ofassistance from anybody was a feather in his cap; and he believed thathe had good reason to feel tickled over it. 

"You got rid of the dog all right, old fellow, " Max told him; "but lookwhat's bearing down on us now, full sail!"

"My stars! it's the dog's mistress, all right; and say, don't she looklike she means business from the word go, though? Hadn't we better runfor it, Max? Sure I have enough stuff left for five more shots; but gee!whiz! you wouldn't want me to treat a lady to that sort of thing, wouldyou? She's getting closer all the while, Max. "

"Yes, I can see she is, " returned the other, calmly. 

"Say, you may be all right, because you didn't have anything to do withthe shooting up of her pet; but what about me? I'm going to clear out, Max. "

"No, don't do it, Bandy-legs, " urged the other; "stay where you are, andleave it to me. I think I can fix it up, all right. "

And really, such confidence did Bandy-legs seem to have in the powers ofhis companion that, although he shivered as he saw the approach of thefarmer's wife, still he manfully stood his ground. 

CHAPTER X

THE WILD ANIMAL TRAP

The woman who rapidly bore down on the two boys had fire in her eye. Sheevidently believed she had cause for feeling angry, since it was her dogthat had gone howling toward the house. 

Somehow she seemed to guess which one of the two lads had been the causeof the wretched animal's misery. Bandy-legs had perhaps been seen inclose connection with the raging beast just before the change in thelatter's tune came, and the vicious snappy bark became a frightenedyelp. 

"What do you mean, you young scamp, hurting my watchdog on his ownground? Don't you know I could have the law on you for that? And what'sthat you've got in your hand there? Looks like a pistol to me. Why, theimpudence of you coming in here and actually _shooting_ my poor Carlo!"

The farmer's wife said all this as she continued to advance towardBandy-legs. She was large, and looked as though she might almost take achap of his size across her knee, if she felt like it. 

Bandy-legs wanted to turn and melt away, but he hated to show the whitefeather the worst kind. As this was an antagonist against whom he wasdebarred from using force he therefore looked appealingly toward Max, who had promised to get him out of the scrape. 

At the same time he held up the little contrivance he had in his hand. 

"Yes'm, this is a pistol, but not the kind you mean, " he said, trying tokeep his voice from shaking, and to be as respectful as possible. "Itholds just a little mite of ammonia, and is used by bicycle riders tokeep savage dogs from tearing them to pieces. I had to try it on Carlobecause he was just bound to take a bite out of my leg; and you know Ican't spare any. "

She looked down at Bandy-legs' rather crooked lower extremities, and thefaintest flicker of a smile crossed her angry face. 

Just then Max put in an entering wedge. 

"How d'ye do, Mrs. Ketcham? I didn't expect we were coming to your housewhen we started out from our camp to try and get some fresh eggs andmilk. Of course I did know you lived up in this region somewhere. But mychum wasn't to blame at all, Mrs. Ketcham, I give you my word for it. And Carlo will get over the pain in a short time. I hope you won't holdit against us. "

Apparently the farmer's wife had not taken a good look at Max up tothen. Her entire attention had been focussed on the guilty party, whomshe meant to intimidate with her righteous anger. 

It was astonishing what a sudden change came over her rather vinegaryface as she recognized Max. The fact of the matter was, that she hadbeen supplying his folks with fresh butter and eggs for several years, and accounted them among her best customers, going in twice a week todeliver her goods. 

When poor shivering Bandy-legs saw that change in the expression of herthin face he experienced the most delightful sensation. It was similarto what a fellow might pass through when he had been hauled up from overa precipice after hanging to a bush the roots of which were slowly butsurely giving way. 

"Why, is it you, Max!" the woman exclaimed, her face breaking out with asmile that made her look quite like a different person; "I'm real gladto see you up at the farm. And if this other boy is a friend of yours, why, of course I'll have to forgive him for hurting my poor old Carlo. Perhaps he had to do it, as he says; and my husband does say the dog isgetting a little ugly in his old age. We'll forget it then. What's yourfriend's name, Max? Seems to me I ought to know him. "

"He's Doctor Griffin's boy, Clarence, " Max hastened to reply; "and asgood a fellow as any one would want to know; but he always does objectto letting dogs take a piece out of his legs, and that's why he carriesthat ammonia gun with him most of the time. "

"Oh! I thought I had seen him before, but I wasn't sure, " she observed, nodding her head; "but then I should have remembered so remark--thatis, such a good-looking boy. And I'm going to begin delivering eggs athis house on my very next trip to Carson, too. That's queer, isn't it?Clarence, shake hands with me, and excuse me for seeming to be angry. Wehave tramps come here so often, and they always shy stones at Carlo, sothat when I heard him howling I thought some of that tribe had hurt him. I can let you have all the eggs you want, just laid, and the richestJersey milk you ever saw. Come up to the house, both of you. "

It was all smooth sailing now, and Bandy-legs was glad he had stood upfor his rights. He would never have held his own respect had he allowedthat beast to get a nip at him while able to fight against it, no matterwhose dog he might be. 

Once at the farmhouse and they were treated like honored guests. Mrs. Ketcham, as though desirous of making amends for her first outburst, insisted on their accepting a bumper glass of fresh buttermilk each; andthis was accompanied by several real home-made doughnuts such as theboys had seldom tasted before. 

She loaned them a covered pail so that they could carry the milk fromher prize Jersey herd of cows back to camp; while several dozen snowywhite eggs from Leghorn fowls were placed in a basket, and so guardedthat they could not be broken by any ordinary little jolt. 

It was just as well that these precautions were taken, Max thought; forhe knew some of the failings of his chum, and one of them was in theline of making frequent stumbles, when there was the least reason fortripping over roots or stones that might lie in the path. 

When Max and Bandy-legs finally started back to camp their pocketsfairly bulged with winter apples that had been kept over in the coolcellar belonging to the farm, where fruit and vegetables were held instock through the cold months of the winter. 

"Turned out a lucky day after all, didn't it?" remarked Max, laughingly, as they both walked along, each with one hand free to take care of theapple they were munching at the time. 

"You're right it did, " his chum replied, with fervor, and then he sighedas he continued; "but there was a time when I thought I'd tumbled out ofthe fryingpan into the fire. It seemed tough enough battling with Carlo;but the way she looked at me, like she could eat me up, was a whole lotworse. But then that was all put on, I guess; and anyhow I'm ready tovote Mrs. Ketcham a trump. She makes the bulliest doughnuts ever, andher buttermilk is--well, it beats the Dutch!"

When they finally reached camp it was without any further adventure. They had seen no sign of any wild animal on the way, a fact Bandy-legswas glad to be able to report when Steve and Toby wanted to know abouttheir trip. 

The camp was now in good trim. Lots of little things could be done fromtime to time, that might add to their comfort. Nails had been driveninto trees upon which they hung their cooking utensils; so that eacharticle could be found whenever wanted. Steve had improved on thefireplace, too, having noticed that it had not been built so as to getthe most favorable draught, for the prevailing winds would be apt tocome from the southwest during their stay, and the front should facethat way to secure the best results. 

Then Toby had made a nice drain around the upper side of the tent. Thiswas intended to shed the water in case a heavy rain set in, as it wasapt to do, this being April weather. There is nothing more uncomfortablewhen camping than to find that the tent leaks, or that on account of thelay of the land water keeps coming in to make everything soggy, when alittle precaution would have prevented such a happening. 

Toby had finished his trap, and proudly exhibited the same to the chumswho had just returned. 

"You s-s-see, " he remarked, as he led them forward to where a youngsapling seemed to be trying to form a bow in the air, held down by someinvisible influence, "it's a very old idea, and I don't c-c-claim to bethe inventor. This sapling is h-h-hickory, and she's got a d-d-dickensof a s-s-spring too. It was all S-s-steve and me could do to bend herd-d-down so the n-n-notch I cut in the end could be caught on thep-p-peg I drove in the g-g-ground. You can see how she works, with thatl-l-loop of stout rope trailin' along here. "

"I reckon you mean to have some attractive bait on the ground, so as todraw the prowler here, " suggested Max. "Yes, I've read of traps likethis before, though I never used one. They catch crocodiles with them insome places, besides all other kinds of things. "

"The idea is this, I take it, " Bandy-legs proceeded to say; "when theanimal is nosing around after the bait he gets a leg caught in thisloop, which pulls tighter and tighter the harder he jerks, till in theend it draws the notched end of the bent sapling free, and of course thesame shoots up straight. That takes the animal up with it, if he happensto be small; and holds his hind quarters elevated if he's bigger. Thatthe way, Toby?"

"T-t-thank you for explaining it for me, Bandy-legs, " the other quicklyremarked. 

"I think you deserve a lot of credit for doing such a good job, Toby, "Max told the trapper, for he had taken note of the fact that everythingconnected with the wild animal trap seemed exceeding well done. 

"And that hickory sapling does look like it was the toughest bow ever, "Bandy-legs affirmed. "Why, I wouldn't be surprised if it could jerk afeller of even my heft up in the air, and hold him upside-down, so he'dlook like he was walkin' on his hands. "

"W-w-want to t-t-try it?" demanded the constructor, eagerly. 

"You'll have to excuse me this time, " Bandy-legs answered, apologetically; "you see I've been having all the exercise that's goodfor me already to-day, what with the four mile walk, and that littlecircus with Carlo. But I'm willing to take your word for it, Toby, thatit'll do the business O. K. And I only hope now some sneaker gets hishind Trilby caught in that loop. It'd give me a whole lot ofsatisfaction to see a wolf or a striped hyena handing up by his rearkicker, and whooping like all get-out for help. "

The sun no longer shone in the friendly way that had marked the earlierhours of this, their first day in camp. Clouds had gathered and coveredthe sky, so that the air seemed even chilly. 

"Feels like we might get some rain before a great while, " Max gave ashis opinion, and there was no dissenting voice, much though the restwould have liked to argue the other way, for they had hoped to have aspell of fine weather accompany their trip to the woods. 

"I had that in mind, " remarked Steve, "when I started to lay in a stockof good dry firewood. You see, here's a splendid place to keep it in, under the upturned roots of this fallen tree. If the rain does comeit'll hardly heat in there, and things are apt to keep fairly dry. Howabout that, Max?"

"A good idea, Steve, and I say we had better get busy and gather all thestuff lying around. When you strike a rainy day in camp it's wonderfulwhat a lot of wood you can use up. "

"And it feels hunky to have plenty, I'm telling you, " Bandy-legsadmitted. "Now, while I'm thinking up what we ought to have for supperthe rest of you might just as well get busy dragging all the loose woodto cover. It'll be good exercise, and give you a sharp appetite for thespread I'll set before you later on. "

Perhaps the others may have considered that Bandy-legs was pretty"nervy" talking in this way, for he was known to be the poorest cook ofthe lot; but then he had been mysteriously hinting of late that he hadbeen taking a course of lessons in cookery from the accomplished Norawho presided in the Griffin kitchen; and in consequence Max and Steveand Toby were quite curious to learn whether he could manage to get adecent meal together. 

Things moved along smoothly, though several times Bandy-legs forgot justwhat the combination was, and had to call for help in order not to spoilthe omelette he was making. In the end it proved to be a pretty decentsupper he spread before them; and they agreed that his reputation as a_chef_ had been considerably improved since the last time they were inthe woods together up at Trapper Jim's place. 

"I told you I could do it, " Bandy-legs exultantly declared when theycomplimented him on his success; "there isn't much I couldn't do ifonly I really and truly set out to try. "

"I w-w-wish then you'd just make up your m-m-mind to try how strong thathickory s-s-sapling is, " urged Toby, entreatingly. "It'd give me ah-h-heap of satisfaction to j-j-just satisfy my mind. You'd be about ash-h-hefty as a wolf or a tiger, you s-s-see; and if it dragged _you_ upall r-r-right, it ought to w-w-work with them. P-p-please accommodateme, Bandy-legs. "

But apparently his coaxing was of no avail. 

"I'd like to do it all right, Toby, but while I'm not tired now like Iwas before, it's too soon after supper to be yanked around, and turnedupside-down that way, " Bandy-legs explained, seeming to be veryreluctant. 

"L-later on, mebbe, then?"

"Why, er, I'm afraid it might wake me up too much just before going tomy blanket, you see, Toby. It's a bad thing to get too active when youought to be hitting the hay, and feel dopey. I've heard my dad say solots of times. Keeps you wakeful all through the first part of thenight. But that trap's all right, I'm tellin' you, Toby. If only someanimal big enough to jerk the bow free comes along and sets his hindfoot in your loop, you're going to hear something drop. "

"I know what I'm meaning to do, " said Steve, firmly; "and that's to keepmy gun handy, so if we get waked up by a lot of screeching, like theworld was coming to an end, I'll be ready to crawl out and wind up thecareer of the escaped menagerie beast, whatever it turns out to be. "

"D-d-don't you be too q-q-quick on the trigger, Steve, " pleaded Toby. "G-g-give us all a chance first to see what it's l-l-like. Mebbe wemight want to keep it alive. "

"What for?" demanded Steve, aggressively. 

"A p-p-pet, " replied Toby; "lots of p-p-people have pets, and think whatit'd mean to me if I g-g-got a h-h-hyena in a c-c-cage. "

"Yes, to be sure, " scoffed the unconvinced Steve, "and also think whatit would mean to all the neighbors too. According to my mind the onlygood hyena is a dead hyena. And if so be you ketch that sort in yourbully trap I'm meaning to knock spots out of the same with a charge ofbuckshot. That goes, too, Toby, remember!"

CHAPTER XI

TOO TRICKY FOR TOBY

Later on Toby busied himself baiting his trap. Bandy-legs was invited toassist in the operation, but he declined. Perhaps he partly suspectedthe other had some sinister motive back of his invitation, and that whenhe least expected it that trailing loop would get twisted around one ofhis ankles, and his next step might precipitate an upheaval. Of courseToby could always declare that it must have been an accident; but hiscuriosity would have been satisfied at any rate. And Bandy-legs wasfirmly opposed to allowing himself to be experimented on. He had heardhis father speak so many times of the horror of vivisection that somehowBandy-legs seemed to have imbibed the idea that all experiments must beunpleasant. 

At least it had not rained any at the time the boys sought theirblankets; and some of the more sanguine began to hope it would prove tobe a false alarm after all. 

They had fixed things as well as they could, looking to a bad turn inthe weather. If it did come they would have a sort of rustic shelterunder which they could manage to keep their fire going, and in that wayget some warmth in the tent. 

"Come along in, Toby, and quit your fussing out there!" Steve called, ashe settled himself under his warm blanket, having chosen a positionwhere he could duck out easily in case there came an alarm in the night. 

"P'raps Toby's meaning to try his trap himself before he lays down, "suggested Bandy-legs, a little viciously; "he'll sure never be happytill he knows whether it works or not. We'll take you down, Toby, if youget hung up by the hind leg. "

"H-h-hind leg!" retorted Toby indignantly, "what d-d-do you take me for, anyhow? Mebbe you think I'm a c-c-cow or a j-j-jackass, but I ain't, allthe s-s-same; I leave it to others to p-p-play such g-g-games. "

As he came in shortly afterward it was apparent that Bandy-legs hadcounted without his host when he figured that Toby meant to test theworking of his trap at his own expense. Toby was too smart for that, itseemed; and besides he doubtless had confidence in his arrangements. 

"Here goes for a bully sleep, " said Bandy-legs, as he coiled up underhis cover, with his knees close to his chin, a favorite attitude withhim; "and I hope nothing wakes me till morning. "

"If you sleep as sound as you generally do, " Max told him, "it wouldtake a hurricane to bother you. If one came whooping along, and carriedour tent up into the tree, the chances are you'd open one eye and wantto know who was making all that draught. You're a good sleeper, Bandy-legs, and your mother knows it, too. "

"I believe in doing everything well, " replied the other, sturdily. "WhenI eat I eat; and when the time comes to snooze take it from me I'm onthe sleeping job from the word go. That's all you'll hear from meto-night, boys. "

"Good!" said Steve, wickedly, "the rest of us can do a little thinking, then. Let it go at that, Bandy-legs; no reply needed. I'm expecting togo to sleep myself, for while I did say I meant to sit up and watch forthat ham thief, since Toby's been so smart as to set a trap, what's theuse?"

Presently all of them must have fallen asleep, to judge from the silencethat hovered over the interior of the khaki-colored tent. 

Some time passed by. 

Then several heads suddenly projected from under as many blankets. 

"What was that?" Max asked. 

"My t-t-trap s-s-sprung!" gasped Toby. 

"But what ails the beast that he don't let out a few howls?" demandedSteve, who was clawing desperately under his blanket, trying to findwhere he had placed his handy gun at the time he lay down. 

"That's the funny part of it, " Max declared; "if you've got your gun bynow, Steve, let's crawl out and see what's doing. "

The three of them hastened to do so, not knowing what they might seeonce they reached the open. Bandy-legs had as yet not stirred, and itreally looked as if he meant to keep his word when he declared thatnothing short of an earthquake or a cyclone would disturb him, once hegot asleep. 

As soon as the others huddled outside, and tried to focus their blinkingeyes on their surroundings they discovered several things. 

In the first place it had apparently not rained as yet, for the groundseemed to be perfectly dry. Then again, the fire had burned low, for itwas giving only an apology of a light, and this flickered, and died downat intervals. 

Max knew what should be the first duty, and stepping toward the fire hethrew a handful of small trash on the coals. Immediately a flame sprangup, and the camp was fairly well illuminated. 

Of course the boys all stared in the quarter where Toby had set thatwonderful trap of his. If the hickory sapling had not been set free itwould still be seen bent in the shape of a huge bow; but their firstglance showed them that this was not the case. 

"It's s-s-sprung!" said Toby, huskily. 

Steve was holding his precious Marlin double-barrel gun so that he couldraise it instantly and take aim. 

"Yes, " Max went on to say, with a touch of excitement in his voice aswell as his manner, "and I can see something swinging back and forwardthere!"

"Oh! whatever can it be?" Toby ventured, tremulously; and then as heimagined that he detected a slight movement on the part of Steve heflung out a hand and tried to shove the other's gun aside, adding:"Don't you d-d-do it, Steve! Why, it can't be a hyena, or anythingd-d-dangerous to us, because d-d-don't you see it's held right up in theair. Let's rush in and keep the poor thing from being c-c-choked tod-d-death!"

The three of them advanced in a straight line, Max and Steve beingarmed, and apparently ready to do fell execution, should there be anynecessity for action. But nothing happened. The swinging objectcontinued to move back and forth, but none of them could detect anyspasmodic kicking connected with it that would suggest the dyingstruggles of a wild beast that was being slowly but surely choked. 

Then Max gave a laugh. 

"Why, it isn't a beast at all, but the heavy pole Bandy-legs threw overhere the time you accused him of wanting to spring your trap, Toby!" heannounced; and as all of them gathered close to the now upright hickorysapling, it was seen that what Max declared was really so. 

"Then Bandy-legs m-m-must have d-d-done this trick!" burst from Toby, who was apparently, filled with indignation. 

"Don't you believe it, " Steve assured him; "because we all heard it gooff, and right then Bandy-legs was sound asleep alongside me. He's thereyet, bundled up in his blanket. "

"You think so, but you d-d-don't know for s-s-sure, " spluttered Toby, distressed at the failure of his much vaunted trap to show results. "C-c-chances are if you went and looked you'd f-f-find he had ad-d-dummy there under his b-b-blanket all the time. "

"Well, now, " observed Max, frowning, "that never occurred to me before, and while I can hardly believe our chum would play such a prank on us, still you never can tell. So Toby, we appoint you a committee of one togo back into the tent and see if Bandy-legs is there or not. "

"I will!" Toby responded, firmly, as though he meant to have the truthmade manifest without any delay; and accordingly he hastened away fromMax and Steve, who started in to learn the way in which the heavy polehad been seized by the loop. 

Immediately Toby came running back, and his face looked more blank thanever. 

"Well, did you find him there?" asked Max. 

"Yep, and as d-d-dead to the w-w-world as anything, " replied thestutterer, as he looked blankly at his two chums, and then toward theswinging pole, as though, the puzzle had become more exasperating thanever. 

Steve gave a low whistle, which was his way of expressing amazement. 

"Say, that must be a wonderful old stick, all right!" he declared, jerking his thumb toward the object that was held in the tightened loopof rope. 

"B-b-but you d-d-don't really think it j-j-jumped up all by itself, andg-g-got c-c-caught, do you?" Toby demanded, quite aghast. 

"Well, hardly, " said Max, though a little frown told that he tooconsidered the enigma a nut hard to crack. "Something that had lifeabout it made that stick do that trick; there's no doubt about that. "

"Was it an animal or--a man?" Steve immediately asked, as he lookednervously around, and half raised his gun, as though he expected to seesome ugly hobo advancing menacingly from the shelter of the forest. 

Max was bending down, and evidently trying to examine the soil. 

"I don't seem to see any tracks of a man here, " he said; "and perhapsyou've noticed that about all the bait Toby put out is gone!"

"C-c-cracky! that's so!" cried Toby, although up to then he had notthought to pay any attention to this important fact. 

"Then some sort of animal must have been here, " Max steadily affirmed. "It ate up the bait, and then must have either accidentally or onpurpose poked that heavy stick into the loop, and sprang Toby's trap. "

"Sure it must have been an accident, Max, " objected Steve; "because itwould have to be a mighty smart animal, and a tricky one at that, toplay such a sly game as using this stick to set the bent sapling free. "

"I know it looks that way, " Max went on to say; "but don't forget thatthe animal that threw the ham at your head from the tree _was_ a trickyone. Some of those beasts belonging to the show are trained to do lotsof queer things. "

"Oh! if we're up against an _educated_ animal, " Steve admitted as thoughconvinced against his will, "that might make a difference, because I'veseen such do things I never would have believed any beast could betaught to perform. But he was keen enough to move all around here andnever once get caught in the loop. Yes, chances are he knew what thatwas there for all the time; and having finished his supper, just to showus what he thought of such silly tricks he picks up this stick, gives ita hitch through the loop, jerks at the same, and there you are, withthree half scared fellows crawling out of the tent expectin' to find atiger held up by the hind quarters. This is what they call coming downfrom the sublime to the ridiculous, I think. "

"It's all Bandy-legs' fault anyway!" muttered the disappointed Toby, ashe commenced taking the pole out of the loop, as though he meant toreset his trap, hoping for better luck the next time. 

"How do you make that out, I'd like to know!" asked Steve. 

"Mebbe if he'd only been half way d-d-decent, and l-l-let me try it outon him, this wouldn't have h-h-happened, " Toby advanced, at which theother boys felt constrained to chuckle. 

"Hard luck, old chap, " said Steve; "we'll help you fix things up again, and p'raps you'll strike it different the next time. "

That sort of talk helped Toby forget his keen disappointment, so that heactually brightened up somewhat. 

"All right, Steve; that's k-k-kind of you. I was g-g-going to ask ifyou'd care to test the thing for me; but we kind of k-k-know what shecan do now. The way it gripped this stick shows how it would h-h-hang onlike grim d-d-death. "

"I'm going to ask you as a special favor, boys, not to tramp around hereany more than you can help, " said Max. 

"Which I take it means you hope to learn something from finding tracks, when you can see in the daylight; is that the answer, Max?" Steve asked. 

"Yes, and when you set the trap keep on this side. I should think thatwhatever it was picked up the bait might have gone off that other way, "Max-continued, thoughtfully. 

"Unless it came down the tree here, and went back the same way, " Steveproposed. "We know already that the thief is a climber, don't we, Max?"

"You remember, Steve, that ham sailed out of a tree, and whizzed pastyour head, " replied the one whose opinion had been asked. "Yes, and Ihad a glimpse of some moving object up among the branches, even if itdid slip away before I could see whether it had the stripes of a tiger, the spots of an ocelot, or the gray coat of our American panther. "

"Gee! but this thing is getting some exciting, for a fact!" Steveadmitted; "and we'll all feel a heap sight easier in our minds when wedo know just what sort of critter it is hanging around our camp, andtrying to make a living off our stock of good grub. "

"But Bandy-legs isn't caring whether school keeps or not, " suggestedMax, as they plainly heard a loud snore from the direction of the tent, where the other chum was evidently sleeping soundly. 

"He'll hardly believe us when we tell him in the morning what happened, "Steve went on to say. "And now that we've gone and set the old springtrap again, there's not a single thing to show for it, unless we'relucky enough to get our game the second time around. "

"S-s-shucks!" muttered Toby just then. 

"What's the matter?" asked Max. 

"D-d-don't believe the thing'll come again; it's r-r-raining right now. "

"Only a few drops, Toby, and they never make a storm, you know, " Steveinformed him. "We don't want to see any rain, and for one I won'tbelieve it's going to visit us till I see it pouring cats and dogs. When it comes to the weather I never believe anything until it happens, and then, like as not it turns out a fizzle. "

"Well, there's no use of our staying out here to get wet, " remarked Max;"so I move the meeting be adjourned. All in favor call out aye!"

Both the others were of the same mind, for they hastened to add theirvoices to that of Max. And accordingly all of them crawled back underthe waterproof tent, content to let things move along as they pleased, and quite sure that no matter how the rain did come down they would findtheir covering faithful to its trust. 

Bandy-legs still slept on, and he looked so young and innocent lyingthere doubled up in a knot that none of the others found the heart todisturb him, but sought their respective nooks, and tried to composethemselves once more for a good sleep. 

CHAPTER XII

A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE

"What's the prospect for the day, fellows?" Steve asked in a loud voice, as he sat up, after throwing aside his blanket. 

It was morning, though the sun had not yet shown up. Three other headsappeared in view instantly, for the sleepers had been satisfied tocuddle in their warm coverings, on account of the chill of the night, which must have gradually crept into the tent around the early hours. 

"Looks to me as though it hadn't rained much after all, " Bandy-legsannounced. 

"T-t-things a little w-w-wet out there, " remarked Toby, who had hastenedto thrust his head part way through the opening near which he lay; "butit's all r-r-right, fellows, because I c'n see b-b-blue s-s-skyoverhead. "

They were soon dressed, and ready to begin the business of the day. Thecamp fire was not hard to start, thanks to their wisdom in procuringplenty of dry fuel when they had the chance; and breakfast began to sendout appetizing odors that excited their appetites--though that washardly necessary, since normal boys are always in condition to do theirshare of eating. 

As usual they talked of various things while they sat around, each inhis favorite attitude, disposing of the meal. 

Bandy-legs seemed to have something on his mind, which he took thisopportunity for venting, for when a little lull occurred in theconversation he turned to Max, and went on to say:

"After all we forgot something yesterday, Max. "

"That so, Bandy-legs? Well, I hope it wasn't such a big thing that it'llupset any of our plans. "

"T-t-tell us what?" Toby ventured, as well as he could, considering howfull his mouth was of food. 

"Oh! you're not in this, Toby, " the other assured the stutterer; "andI'm not much s'prised at me forgetting, but it's queer Max should, because he nearly always remembers. "

"Then it must have been something connected with the little excursionthe two of us took yesterday?" Max guessed. 

"Just what it was, " said Bandy-legs. "We didn't think to ask Mrs. Ketcham about whether they kept a bull or not; and you know we said wewould, because that might explain the awful growling noise we heard andwhich sounded like an escaped lion roaring. "

Max laughed softly. 

"I admit that we didn't bother asking her about it, Bandy-legs, " heremarked; "but that was because there was no need. "

"But why?" insisted the other, greedily. 

"Oh! I happened to see the bull myself, " replied Max, quietly. 

"Pretty good evidence, that, I'd say, " chuckled the amused Steve; "andso far as I c'n tell, your lamps are in good condition, Max. Seeing isbelieving, they say. "

"And you didn't even bother to tell me, either; was that just fair!" theaggrieved Bandy-legs wanted to know. 

"Well, " Max told him, "it happened when you were helping Mrs. Ketcham dosomething with the eggs, and I guess I must have forgotten all about itafterwards, because we had a lot of other things to talk about. Buthappening to look out of the window in the direction of the barn I justglimpsed the heavy-set head of a big Jersey bull sticking out of a holethat must have been made in his stall so as to give him air. He wassniffing, as if he knew there were strangers around; but when I lookedagain he had drawn his head in, and so I forgot all about him. "

Toby heaved a disappointed sigh. 

"That knocks all my c-c-chances of g-g-gettin' an old he lion thistrip!" they heard him mutter. 

"Well, did you ever?" ejaculated Steve, staring hard at the other; "justthink of the nerve of him, would you, expecting to bag a terribleman-eating lion in a trap like that! Honest now, I really believe Tobyhere'd be happy if he could only go home in a few days with a wholemenagerie trailing behind him--elephant, rhinoceros, camel, lion, tiger, and a ring-tailed monkey bringing up the rear. "

"Oh! is that so?" Toby asked him, with a pretended sneer on his face;"and while you're about it, Steve, would you be so k-k-kind as to tellme what sort of a m-m-monkey that is? I never saw one in all myl-l-life. "

"I guess you've got me there, Toby, " laughed Steve; "because I neverhave, either, but I should say it was an ordinary monkey that could tiehis tail up in knots whenever he wanted to keep it out of mischief, justlike you turn up your trousers on a wet day. "

They kept things humming until the meal was done; for every fellow had adesire to make his opinion known. 

"Now what's the programme for to-day?" asked Max, as they untwistedthemselves from their Turk-like sitting positions, and stretched totheir full height. 

"I'll tell you what I'm m-m-meaning to do, " said Toby, "after we getd-d-done the breakfast d-d-dishes. F-f-frogs!"

"Oh! I see, you're worried about all that chorus work they kept up lastnight, and mebbe you think there were some who sang off-key, whichbothers your musical ear, so you want to pick 'em out, and even thingsup, " and Steve grinned as he said this, because he did not have as highan opinion of Toby's accomplishments in the line of music as he might. 

"I'm not pretending to have any such c-c-classical n-n-notion, " theaccused one indignantly declared; "it's a c-c-case of dinner with me. Il-l-like frogs' legs, and they l-l-like me first-rate; so when thingsagree that way, what's the sense of k-k-keepin' 'em separate?"

"No use at all, Toby, " admitted Steve, as though he had seen a greatlight, "and if you feel like growing a pair of frogs' legs in place ofthe ones you've got now, why, I wouldn't throw a thing in the way. OnlyI warn you it would be dangerous practicing singing frog songs bydaylight. "

Toby did not answer this thrust, only sniffed, and turned away. 

Each of the others had a number of things scheduled for attention onthis morning. The camp was in pretty good trim by now, but there alwaysseems to be something that can be done in order to make it morecheerful; and Max was one of those fellows who like to potter around, making improvements. 

Steve wanted to wander over in the direction of the farmhouse, and triedto find some good excuse for going; but the milk supply promised to holdout for the day, and they certainly would not need more eggs until thenext morning. 

The fact of the matter was he had heard the accounts of how Max andBandy-legs had been so splendidly treated by Mrs. Ketcham with more orless envy; because it happened that Steve was passionately fond ofdoughnuts of the old-fashioned New England cruller kind; and he hopedthe farmer's wife might still have a nest of the same in her big stonecrock. 

He even suggested that possibly Bandy-legs might like to go with him, soas to take a picture of the big watchdog that had given him such alively time, in order to keep the adventure green in his memory. Buthaving other things laid out for that morning to keep him busy, theother chum respectfully but firmly declined to be coaxed into making afour mile tramp, when there was really no need of it. 

So poor disappointed Steve had to give up for that day his hope ofobtaining any of those choice doughnuts. 

"And chances are, " he was heard to mutter to himself as he started toget busy with something or other, "they'll be clean eaten up by anotherday; but that's always my luck when doughnuts are around. It's too meanfor anything. "

However Steve was too good-natured a fellow to remain gloomy very longat a stretch, and in ten minutes they heard him trolling a comical dittyas he worked away, showing that his "doughnut fever" had calmed downsensibly. 

Meanwhile Toby after awhile made ready to wander over in the directionof the pond where that frog chorus inspired him with high hopes ofreaping a bountiful harvest. 

He had arranged a long stout pole, with a short line and a hook at thesmall end. This latter he ornamented with a piece of bright red flannelsome two inches square and supplied by Max, which he was wise enough totie securely to the shank of the hook, well up from the barb, but so itconcealed the point. 

He also carried the trouting basket slung over his shoulder by thecanvas strap, and made sure that his hunting knife had a good edge toit, for he meant to fix the frogs as he took them, thus saving himselfmore or less of a burden in carrying the useless portions along withhim. 

"Steve, would you m-m-mind doing me a g-g-great favor?" Toby asked, ashe stood there all ready to make a start. 

"Sure I wouldn't mind, Toby; what is it?" the other asked quickly. 

"I'd like to c-c-carry your g-g-gun along with me, " said Toby. 

"Not to shoot frogs with, I hope?" remarked Bandy-legs, in high scorn. 

"K-k-keep out of this, p-p-please, Bandy-legs, " the other told him. "Steve knows I wouldn't be g-g-guilty of doing that. But you see, afeller can't tell what he might run up against these d-d-days, whenthere's some k-k-kind of mysterious animal p-p-prowlin' around. D-d-didyou s-s-say yes, Steve?"

"You're as welcome to the little Marlin as flowers in spring, Toby, "Steve told him; "and here, put several more shells in your pocket. Remember I've got a couple with buckshot loaded in the barrels rightnow. If so be you _have_ to use the gun, be sure you know what you'rebanging away at, because they'd have you up for murder if you hit a poorman with that charge. "

"Oh! I'll be careful, sure I will, Steve; and t-t-thank you ever som-m-much for lending it to me, " with which the overjoyed Toby shoulderedthe weapon, and started forth. 

"Sure you know where the pond lies, do you?" asked Max; "and don'tforget that the camp is due southeast of the same. When you start hometake your bearings, and if you're in doubt even once, give us a whoop. Sometimes its possible to get lost in the woods, and that means a heapof trouble, don't it, Bandy-legs?"

"Well, if you change that to a swamp I can say yes, all right, because Ihave been there, and know, " was the answer the query brought out. 

But Toby had no such fear. He had spent considerable time in the open, so that he had learned many useful lessons, though he sometimes didallow himself to grow more or less careless. The pond was not so veryfar away but what he could make those by the campfire hear if he wishedto shout; and surely a fellow must be a fool who could get lost undersuch conditions. 

He made a bee-line through the woods, as nearly as the nature of theundergrowth would allow such a thing. Before long he had arrived insight of the pond, which he was pleased to see covered many acres, andhad the appearance of a splendid haunt for great big greenbacked frogs. 

He could hear them grunting in various places, and this made Toby'sheart beat high with hope, for he was especially fond of the sport;though not cruel enough to have indulged in it just for the sake ofkilling the high jumpers; but the thought of the feasts to come spurredhim on to do his best. 

It is not always the easiest thing in the world to circumvent a shrewdold grandfather frog who has long grown suspicious of everything thatwalks on two feet. To crawl up close enough to him to softly push yourpole far out, so that the red lure dangles in front of his nose andwithin a few inches, often requires considerable labor, and necessitatesmore or less skill as well. 

Toby soon became intensely interested in his work. He would stand thegun up against a certain tree while he ranged the immediate shore, andpossibly made several captures. It was not long before he was sorry hehad bothered fetching the firearm at all, because there seemed no reasonfor doing so, and it made him many unnecessary steps. 

His success was phenomenal, and for an hour he kept moving around theedge of the pond, the banks of which were heavily wooded for the mostpart. 

By that time he had almost two dozen "saddles" in his trout creel, andit was beginning to bother him by feeling heavy; as well as slippingforward while he crept along on hands and knees, in order to get closeto some monster who seemed suspicious, and had to be approachedcarefully. 

Finally Toby fell into the habit of leaving the basket along with hisgun. When he made a capture he would immediately kill the frog, and tosshim over to where these things lay, if within throwing distance. Then, when ready to move further on it was his habit to dress those victims hehad gathered meanwhile, after which he allowed himself to be tempted toproceed "just a little further. " That is always the way whenfrog-hunting; one may decide that he has really obtained enough for thetime being; but then the conditions may never be as good again; and someof the spoils can easily be kept over until another day by immersingthem in cold water. 

So Toby toiled on, creeping, sliding, crawling, and doing abouteverything an active, ambitious hunter might, in pitting his powersagainst a wary species of quarry that had only to make one big jump inorder to baffle all his plans. 

Finally he knew that the creel would not hold many more of those big"saddles, " and accordingly Toby promised himself that he would surelystop when he had taken just five, in addition to those already bagged. 

Three times he tossed a victim over to the bank, where he could see thegun and the basket. A fourth fell into his hands after a long stealthrough some reeds, and having put an end to the victim's struggles, Toby turned to throw him to the bank, after which he would look for thevery last frog he meant to take. 

He did not throw that defunct jumper, however, although his hand wasdrawn back to make the cast. Instead Toby stood there staring, a wrinklestealing between his eyes just above his nose, as it always did when theboy was puzzled. 

"Now, what's that m-m-mean?" he grumbled to himself, as he startedpost-haste toward the bank. "Mebbe Steve's come out to s-s-see how I'mdoing, and he's j-j-just snuck my b-b-basket away for f-f-fun. There'sthe g-g-gun aleanin' 'gainst that tree all right, but where's myb-b-bully lot of f-f-frogs, I want to know?"

And indeed it was just as Toby said; for the shotgun could be plainlyseen where he had laid it, against the base of a tree-trunk; but thetrout creel filled almost to the lid with the delicious white meat"saddles" of his many victims had mysteriously vanished!

CHAPTER XIII

THE SECRET OUT

When he presently managed to reach the spot he was aiming for Toby waspretty much all out of breath. He had been forced to exert himselfconsiderably in order to get that last victim; and then came this suddencall upon his energies. 

He stared all around him, but could not see any sign of mischievousSteve. The trees were for the most part too small to very well concealany one behind their trunks, it being every bit second-growth timber. 

"Steve, l-l-let up on that f-f-foolin', and b-b-bring me back myb-b-basket of b-b-bully f-f-frogs' legs, won't you, please?"

Toby called this out fairly loud, having by now managed to partlyrecover his lost breath. He waited, and hoped to see the laughing faceof his chum thrust itself into view; but nothing happened. 

Then Toby began to grow alarmed. He reached down, and snatched the gunfrom its resting-place alongside the tree-trunk; after which he pulledback both hammers with trembling thumb, while he scanned hissurroundings. His eyes were distended, and there was an anxious glow inthem; just as though the boy half expected that a savage striped jungletiger would suddenly make a leap from out the branches of a pine treenear by, and seek to pounce upon him. 

But although he scanned each neighboring harbor of refuge earnestly hesaw not a sign of a yellow form lying on a limb, and watching himhungrily. 

Toby all at once became eager to call his chums to the spot. Thereseemed to be a strange mystery attached to this sudden disappearance ofhis prized trophies, which he could not begin to understand. One minutethe creel had been here in full view, and when he looked again, lo andbehold, it was gone!

He at least had the good sense to stop long enough before starting tomake sure that he was going to run in the right direction; and then heused his legs to the best advantage. 

All the time he was trying to sprint as though engaged in a road racewith some of the best runners in Carson High athletic circles, Toby keptlooking to the right and to the left, and then behind him; for he morethan half anticipated that this retreat on his part might spur theunknown enemy on to attacking him. 

However, he drew near the camp without anything happening. Now he couldhear the voice of Steve again trolling some ditty, while Bandy-legscalled out to ask Max a question. 

This would seem to prove that the whole three of them were there. Italso added to the mystery; because all along Toby had kept saying tohimself he half expected to learn that Steve was absent, and thatneither of the others knew where he had wandered; for this would make itappear as though after all Steve might be the cause of the strangevanishing of the trout creel. 

But now that prop was knocked out from under Toby's feet. Hence his facelooked pale and somewhat peaked as he hurried over to where thekhaki-colored tent stood, with the smouldering fire close by. 

"Hello! here's our frog-hunter come back, and I hope he's met with goodluck in the bargain!" Max called out, and then as he noticed first thatToby looked somewhat frightened, and second that he was not carrying thetrout creel over his shoulder as might be expected, he went on toexclaim: "Why, what's happened to you, Toby? Where's your basket?"

Now Toby, as the reader knows, was likely to get his tongue dreadfullytwisted in all sorts of strange knots if he tried to speak in a hurry, when very much excited. That was just what happened now; and Steve hadto thump him on the back with considerable energy before he made theaccustomed sign that he had succeeded in getting control over his vocalchords again. 

"B-b-basket's gone!" was the shot he fired at them as soon as he couldspeak. 

"What d'ye mean, Toby!" asked Steve, frowning; "gone and lost my troutcreel in some mud bed, and can't find it again? I ought to be glad youdidn't let the Marlin follow suit. "

"'Tain't that!" declared the other, with an in-taking of his breath;"it's been h-h-hooked, that's what!"

Max saw that he would have to take a hand in the matter so as to get atthe facts without any more delay; for Steve's methods were apt to simplyexcite Toby more and more, and that meant a further thickness of speech. 

"Tell us what happened, Toby, " he said, with the little touch ofauthority in his voice that his position as the leader of the partypermitted, and which was always respected by the other chums. 

"That's j-just what I want to do, Max, " Toby went on to say, afterswallowing once or twice in a peculiar way he had when trying hard toget a grip on himself. "You s-s-see, I got to leavin' the b-b-basket onthe b-b-bank along with the gun. I had her near c-c-crammed full of thef-f-finest saddles you ever saw, too. Then just when I g-g-got to nextto the last jumper I m-m-meant to take, s-s-say, when I looked beforethrowin' that f-f-frog ashore the b-b-basket wasn't there!"

"Sure you didn't misplace it, Toby?" asked Max, who could not forgetthat the other had a little failing in the way of meaning to do certainthings, and then going right off to attempt something just the opposite. 

"N-n-not any, Max, " persisted Toby, truculently; "she was therep-p-plain as the nose on Steve's face here, when I threw that thirdf-f-frog ashore; but when I looked again, nixey, she was g-g-gone!"

"We'll have to go over there with you, and investigate this thing, " Maxannounced with a frown. "If there's anybody hiding up in these woods andtrying to play mean tricks on us we want to know it right away. We'retoo far off for any of the town boys to be trying to bother us; and Idon't think any country fellow would take the chances of being caughtand pounded. It must be some sort of animal!"

"That's what I thought it was, Max!" Toby declared, not deeming it worthwhile to explain how at first he had imagined one of them might beplaying a joke on him. 

"Ought we to leave the camp unprotected!" Bandy-legs asked. 

"I'll fasten the tent flap, so nothing can get in, and it'll be allright, " Max told him; which intelligence pleased the other very muchindeed, for he imagined that they might hit upon him to stay behind, andBandy-legs had as much desire to be in the hunt as the next one. 

Accordingly the four boys started on a run toward the distant pond. Tobyled the van, because he had already been over the ground twice, andought to know where he was going better than any one else. Still, it wasMax who on several occasions managed to get Toby to veer a little tothe right. He was keeping his eyes on the tracks made by Toby inapproaching the camp; and knew just when the latter deviated from hisformer course, as one will naturally lean to the right unless guardingagainst this tendency. 

Even after they arrived at the water they were compelled to continue onfor quite a distance, because the frog hunter had covered considerableground while keeping up his sport. 

"There's your fishing pole leaning up against that tree, I think, Toby, "remarked Max, finally. 

"Yes, that's so, " replied the other. "I c-c-chucked it there before Ilit out, so's to have a m-m-mark to see when I came b-b-back again. "

"And is that the place where you saw your basket last?" asked Steve. 

"It sure is!" Toby declared, half holding up his right hand as though hefancied himself in the witness chair, and bound to give facts exactly asthey were. "And l-l-looky here, will you, s-s-see where the gun stood upagainst the tree trunk? Well, the b-b-basket lay over by that clump ofg-g-grass. "

Max immediately stepped over and bent down. 

"He's right about that, fellows, " he announced; "because here you canplainly see where the basket lay on the ground, for it left animpression. "

"It ought to, " burst out Toby, convincingly; "because it was h-h-heavyenough to m-m-make a m-m-mark anywhere. "

All of them could see what Max referred to. The basket had undoubtedlylain there on the bank. Max looked all around him, then up toward thetree overhead. In this case the lower branches were at least ten feetfrom the ground; and he mentally calculated that no animal, however longits reach, could have possibly stretched down and secured that basket. 

That would mean there should be some chance for discovering telltaleimprints near by. Max was unusually clever with regard to such things;and always thought of them first when there was a mystery of this kindafoot. 

"Keep where you are, everybody, please, for just a minute or two, " hewent on to say; "that is, don't move around more than you can help; anduse your eyes to help locate the tracks left by this _thing_, whateverit may be. "

"Oh! a good idea, Max!" burst from Toby; "now, why didn't I think ofthat before I put for the c-c-camp?"

Nobody gave him an answer, but doubtless Steve deep down in his heartwas saying, "Because you were badly rattled, I guess, my boy; and wantedto meet up with some of the rest of the crowd too much, that's what. "

After all it was Max who discovered what he sought. They heard him giveutterance to a low exclamation, as though of surprise; then he was seento bend down and closely examine something. 

The others crowded close to their leader, and three pairs of hungryeyes were fastened upon the ground. Toby gave a cry of mingledastonishment and disgust. 

"W-w-why, would you believe it, " he gasped, "after all it was a sillylittle b-b-baby, and barefooted at that, g-g-got away with theb-b-basket! Oh! rats!"

Both Steve and Bandy-legs were staring at the plain imprint of a foot, and such a queer foot too, long and slender. 

"Max, what's the answer?" begged Steve; "it don't seem possible thatthat track was ever made by any baby like Toby says. "

"It wasn't, " the other told him, with a smile; "that was a full-grownmonkey, and I should think he would stand about as high as Bandy-legshere!"

"A m-m-monkey!" echoed Toby, scratching his head; "and that was whatstole our f-f-fine h-h-ham the f-f-first night we camped here, was it, and threw the s-same at Steve's head? Oh! my s-s-stars, a real livemonkey. I w-w-wonder now if it's got a r-r-ringed tail like Steve said. "

"But looky here, Max, " interposed Bandy-legs, "monkeys don't eat fishand frogs, do they? I understood they lived on nuts and roots andfruit. "

"So they do, as near as I can say, " acknowledged Max; "although theremay be a species that does eat animal food, though I doubt it. Thisfellow has lived pretty much all his life in the circus, and is astricky as they make them. He watched Toby here working, and wonderedwhat he had so good in that basket; so when the chance came he justdropped down and made away with it. "

Toby began to scan the neighboring trees as though he half expected tosee a grinning hairy face projected through the branches and leering athim. 

"But after he looks in and sees what's there, he might drop the basket, mightn't he, Max?" Steve inquired. 

"I think there's a fair chance that way, Steve; and so let's lookaround. Each choose a certain territory to cover; but don't wander _too_far away; and remember our old signal for assembling in a hurry. Whoeverfinds the creel give the Indian whoop twice. Once for trouble, and helpwanted. Now scatter!"

They had done this sort of thing many times in days gone by, and werepretty well trained for service. Following the idea Max suggested, theyheaded in four different points of the compass, though the pond beingbehind cut out half the circle, and shortened their labors considerably. 

Barely three minutes had gone by than a whoop rang out, coming from thequarter where Steve had gone. The others raised their heads eagerly andlistened, for if no second call followed it would mean that the one whosignalled needed assistance in a hurry. But almost immediately therecame a second cry, proving that the missing basket had been found. 

A minute later and they were clustered there, examining the trout creel. It had been opened, for part of its contents had vanished; but when Tobybegan to discover fine frogs' "saddles" scattered on the ground, hestarted to collect them in great haste. 

"Seemed like the monk must have been disgusted when he opened thebasket, after climbing a tree here, and found that he didn't fancy thesmell of what it held, " Steve gave as his opinion. 

"And I guess Toby is likely to get about all his frog supplies backagain, " Max went on to say, in a satisfied way; "so that none of us haveany kick coming. "

"That old sneak fools himself more than a few times, don't he?"Bandy-legs remarked, as if beginning to see the comical side of theaffair. "First there was the half ham which he couldn't take a fancy toafter he stole it, and now here he's gone and cribbed a lot of frogs'legs that he throws away. It must be just a habit with him to steal. Hecan't help it when the temptation rises. I'd call him a kleptomaniac, wouldn't you, Max?"

"Yes, " Toby hastened to remark, out of his turn, "that's what he mustbe, but you'll have to excuse m-m-me from s-s-sayin' the same, becauseit'd sure take m-m-me a year of Sundays puckerin' up my l-l-lips totry. "

"Now, if you had a chance to capture a monkey, Toby, it wouldn't be nearso silly as hoping to bag a great big lion, or a strong tiger that couldbat us all over with one stroke of his paw, " Steve advised the boy whoyearned to be the proud possessor of a menagerie of his own. 

"Well, p'raps I may b-b-before we leave here, " Toby calmly went on tosay, "that is, if the rest of you g-g-give-me a h-h-helping hand. "

"You can count on that, Toby, " Max assured him, for everybody feltvastly better, now that the worst seemed known; "but since we've foundwhat was lost, and made an important discovery, let's hike hack to ourcamp, where we can talk it all over, and settle on our plan ofcampaign. "

"Yes, " Bandy-legs remarked, "and while that slippery customer is hangingaround here nothing's going to be safe from him. I wouldn't be a bitsurprised if the old sneak had paid a visit to our tent while we've beeninvestigating up here; and poking his nose into every package we've gotthere, hoping to find some peanuts, or something else he likesparticularly well, " and this prospect sent the boys on the full run overthe short-cut between the pond where the frogs held their nightlychorus, and the camp. 

CHAPTER XIV

A PLOT AGAINST THE MISSING LINK

"Everything's lovely, and the goose hangs high!" sang out Steve, whenthey had once more arrived in camp, to find things just as they had beenleft, with no sign of tampering on the part of the inquisitive andperhaps hungry monkey. 

"It's all right, because no damage was done, since Toby got back hisstolen high jumpers, " Bandy-legs announced. 

"Yes, and he's agoin' to have p-p-part of the s-s-same for lunch, understand?" declared the late frog fisherman; "and say, Max, you neverdid see such c-c-crazy antics in all your life as when they f-f-foundthat red rag had a jag in it. Great g-g-governor! how they'd try toc-c-crawl up the string backwards, or any old way. Near died alaughin'at the s-s-same; then I reckoned it was kind of c-c-cruel to keep 'emsufferin' so, and I'd knock 'em on the head. 'Bout time I g-g-got busywith the fryingpans, ain't it?"

No one told him to "hold his horses, " for they were only too wellpleased nowadays when Toby offered to take upon himself the getting of ameal, since he had proved his ability to do fair camp cooking. Time waswhen they would have utterly refused to let him try his hand, becausethey knew how he would spoil everything he attempted to serve up; buttimes had changed apparently, and Nora's lessons were bearing fruit. 

It was just as well that Toby cooked an unusual amount of stuff forluncheon, because it happened that the camp was destined to havevisitors before they had gotten very far along with the meal. 

Perhaps the smoke made by their fire attracted attention, for the firstthing the boys knew they heard the sound of voices somewhere near, andbelonging to men at that. 

They looked up at each other, and Bandy-legs was the first to express anopinion. 

"Say, I wouldn't be s'prised now, if it's Farmer Ketcham and one of hishired men acomin' over to see us about something. "

"Whew!" exclaimed Steve, "I hope his old bull hasn't broke loose now, and is on the rampage. Seems to me as if we had about enough to botherwith, as things stand, without having a bull tearing in on us any oldtime; and Toby here wearing that red bandana around his neck all thetime, trying to make believe he's a cowboy from out on the plains. "

"There they come!" said Max, pointing as he spoke. 

A few seconds later, and Toby uttered a loud cry. 

"Why, I d-d-declare if 'tain't M-m-mister Jenks!" he announced. 

"Jenks!" echoed Steve; "seems like I ought to know that name; heard itsomewhere or other. Who is he, Toby, and where'd you meet him?"

"Why, d-d-don't you remember, boys, he owns the c-c-circus!"

"Oh! sure, that's a fact!" Steve exclaimed, "and you had some mightypleasant dealings with him, too, didn't you, Toby? Fifty plunks was ithe paid you because you sent in the first news about his missinganimals? Mebbe he's changed his mind, and wants that hard cash backagain--followed you all the way up here to coax you to pan out. Mebby hethinks he needs it in his business. "

But Toby shrugged his shoulders, and smiled in a way that proved he feltpretty sure the journey would have been taken for nothing, should suchprove to be the case. 

"I can give a guess what brings Mr. Jenks up here, " interrupted Max;"and it's got some connection with our torment, that trained monkey. Butthey're waving their hands to us right now, and coming this way; sowe'll soon know all about it. "

The two men soon reached the camp. Mr. Jenks it was, just as Toby hadsaid, and the party with him seemed to be a farmer, who might possiblylive within a few miles of the place. 

"Glad to see you again, my boy!" exclaimed the proprietor of the circus, as he held out his big hand to Toby; "and I must say this looks like agood omen to me, meeting you away up here, after you had so much to dowith finding the rest of my stock. I'm shy just one fine educatedmonkey, the famous Link who's said to be the Missing Link, which he isright now, at least. Thought I could get on without him, but it seemsthat the show has lost its salt without his tricks. Everybody callingfor Link, and attendance falling off when we can't produce him. So whenI had a letter from this party here, Mr. Caleb Kline, who owns a farmnot far away, telling me he had been visited by a big monkey thatchattered, and stole like all get-out, I just made up my mind I'd comeback and make a big effort to locate him. It'll be two hundred dollarsin any one's pocket to capture Link. "

"Won't you both sit down, and have a bite of lunch?" asked Max, feelingthat it was really up to them to act as hosts on such an occasion. 

Mr. Jenks looked at his companion. 

"Might as well, Kline, seeing that your place is a good ways off; and wedon't want to go back till dark, because that boy said he saw the monkeyup in this region day before yesterday. Scared him nearly to death, theboy thinking he meant to eat him up; but Link only wanted to makefriends, for he's a social chap sometimes. "

Steve laughed at that. 

"As full of mischief as an egg is of meat, sir!" he declared. 

"What's that, have you seen him, then?" demanded Mr. Jenks, eagerly. 

"Oh! he's hanging out somewhere near by, and we've had a couple ofexperiences with the sly rascal, " Steve continued. "First time he stolehalf a ham, and when we were looking around in the night he flung it atmy head, and nearly knocked my brains out, only I was saved by nothaving it hit me. "

"Well, that's interesting--not the fact of your having brains, my son, but what you tell me about Link's scandalous conduct. He's a slick one, I assure you, " the circus man went on to say, his face beaming withsatisfaction at thus striking a warm clue so early in the hunt. 

"Yes, " broke out Toby, anxious to get in the spotlight as well asSteve; "and right this very morning, after I'd f-f-fished for f-f-frogsover at the p-p-pond a half mile away, and left my h-b-basket full ofsaddles under a tree, would you believe m-m-me, that old m-m-monkslipped up and run away with the s-s-same? C-c-course we found it again, 'cause m-m-monkeys don't f-f-fancy f-f-fish; and we saw tracks asp-p-plain as anything that looked like a b-b-baby'd been there, whichwas his m-m-marks, you know. "

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised, now!" declared Mr. Jenks, "but what youboys will be after me to claim that two hundred yet. Link seems to havetaken a fancy to you in some way, and is hanging around your camp. Now, my time is nearly up, and unless I gather him in this afternoon I'mafraid I'll have to leave here. I'm meaning to let you write down wherethe show'll be every day for two weeks; and you can reach me there ifyou do happen to take the monkey in. "

He looked meaningly at Toby when saying this. Somehow Mr. Jenks seemedto have an idea that the boy who loved to collect wild animals must bethe leader of the little group of campers. This arose partly through hishaving had former dealings with Toby Jucklin, whom he had at least foundto be fairly shrewd at making a bargain. 

It quite tickled Toby to have this honor thrust upon him for once in hislife; and as Max could see no harm in the mistake he allowed it to goon. After all it mattered very little, since they were all chums; andwhat was one's business was the concern of all. And Toby seemed to beenjoying the sensation so much that his face was fairly flushed. 

"We'll t-t-try to d-d-do our best, sir, " Toby went on to say, feelingthat it was up to him to act as spokesman, when his relations with Mr. Jenks made him so pronounced a factor in the deal. 

"He's so tricky, though, " observed Steve, "that you mustn't count on ourbeing able to bring him to terms. Monkeys can bite and scratchterrible, if they once get mad, can't they, Mr. Jenks?"

The two men were sitting down alongside, and each enjoying the contentsof a pannikin placed before them, containing a fair supply of all thatthe boys had had for their meal, as well as a brimming cup of coffeewith all the "fixings. "

"Yes, and I wouldn't advise you to trust too much to Link, for whilehe's full of fun, at the same time there's rank treachery in hismake-up; so that he may turn like a flash on the hand that pets him, anduse his little sharp teeth. But there's one safe way to capture him, andwhich we meant to employ in case we could learn where he was holdingout. "

"Would you mind explaining it to us, Mr. Jenks?" asked Max. 

"Certainly not, son, and I mean to leave some of the material with youto use, if you get the chance. Like as not Link will keep on hanging outnear your camp; and if I could remain up here longer I'd just stay here, and take my chances. You see the little bag Kline carries? Well, thatcontains nuts, and dried bread. I've got a bottle of strong liquoralong, and we expected to follow the tactics of nearly all wild animalcatchers who go out after monkeys. "

"I think I know what you mean, sir, " said Max; "but perhaps you'llexplain a little further?"

"They know the confiding nature of the climbers, " continued the circusproprietor, promptly, "and when they reach a place in the woods wherethey know they are apt to strike a colony of monkeys, they take a numberof gourd calabashes and place a certain amount of nuts and bread, soakedin the whiskey, in each, then hide near by to watch results. 

"Pretty soon the troop of monkeys come along, and scenting somethinggood to eat, proceed to fill up on the dosed stuff. It seems pretty hardto take advantage of a weakness that they appear to have in common withthe other branch of the two-legged family, don't it? But every time theyget so stupid that they stagger all around, and seem to lose all fear ofmankind. Then one of the watchers will step out, take hold of a monkey'shand, and lead a whole string of them away, each trying to support theothers. And so they walk into cages, and upon recovering from theirspree find themselves shut up for life. "

"If men only had to pay as dear for their first offense, there'd be aheap less of drinking done, you hear me, " remarked the farmer, who hadevidently heard the description before, and yet still marveled at itsingenuity, as well as thought it pretty hard on the poor monkeys. 

"You can leave the stuff with us, Mr. Jenks, " said Max, and now theother realized he was dealing with the real leader of the camping party;"but I won't promise to use it unless we really have to. Somehow Idon't exactly like the idea, though I suppose it's all right for thoseanimal catchers to do anything at all in order to make their trip pay, because with them it's a business. But that isn't true with us boys. Perhaps we may find another way to get Link; it'll give us something tothink about, and if we succeed it ought to be a feather in our caps. "

"And two hundred dollars in your pockets, don't forget that, son, " thecircus man said, impressively. "Seems like the more I get to thinkingabout that monkey the less I want to lose him. It took a long time toteach him what tricks he knows, and he's always been a big drawing cardto my show. I certainly hope we manage to corral him in some way. And sofar as I'm concerned I'd as soon get him soaked as not, so long as I layhands on him. It wouldn't be the first time either that he knew whatstrong drink is, because I'm sorry to say the man I hired to look afterLink especially, used to be very fond of his bottle, and he must havetaught the monkey to like the vile stuff. He's the silliest thing, whenon a jag, you ever saw, and does act too comical for anything. "

"I can see from that it would be an easy thing to tempt poor old Linkwith some of the stuff, sir, " Max went on to say; "and if we fail inevery other way we'll just have to come down to what you suggest;because the animal would die in the winter if left at large in this coldcountry. Either emigration or captivity is the only thing to save him. "

"Sensible talk, son, " the circus man told Max. "And to tell the truthI'm so sure you boys will be successful that I'm tempted to turn rightback, and get an early train for Greenburg, so as to be with my showto-night. Things go wrong when the old man is away. It's a one-manconcern at best. Nobody knows what to do in an emergency but me. Yes, Kline, after we're done eating take me back to your house, and then tothe station again for the first train. I'll gladly pay you what Ipromised, and then wait to hear from these bright lads. "

Of course this sort of talk gave the four chums more than a few pleasantthrills because everybody likes to know that they are appreciated attheir true worth. 

"That would m-m-mean another f-f-fifty for me, wouldn't it?" Toby washeard to say, reflectively, as though the prospect might seem quitepleasing, and he wondered whether he might not be able to save up, andafter a little while augment the number of animals in his collection, after he had removed it from the back yard of the family residence outto the Jucklin farm. 

While the two guests were finishing their meal there was more or lessfurther talk, all bearing upon the different ways in which men who makeit their business in life to trap wild animals, go about it out in thejungles and dark forests of the countries where such may still be foundin profitable numbers to pay them to go to such enormous expense. 

The boys listened, and learned considerable that was deeply interestingabout the habits of these bold adventurers. Since the moving pictureenterprise came into its own there have been many faithful picturesshown of how these beasts of prey live in their native lands; and theboys had even had the privilege of seeing some very fine flashlightpictures that showed all manner of untamed animals at large, so thatthis talk with an old traveler like Mr. Jenks was unusually interesting. 

Finally the two men announced themselves ready to go back to the Klinefarmhouse. 

"Remember, now, boys, " said Mr. Jenks, as he went around shaking everyfellow heartily by the hand, "you're going to wire as soon as you getback to town, and tell me what luck you've had. I'll be ready to jump onthe next train and come back to Carson, bringing that two hundred withme; because I know you're going to turn the trick on the Missing Link. Be good to yourselves, now, and here's wishing you the best of luck, "and with that he passed from their sight. 

CHAPTER XV

THE BATTLE OF WITS

After that Toby seemed to have but one object in life, which was tohatch up a clever scheme whereby the educated monkey could be trapped. He wandered around in the near vicinity of the camp, with his eyesconstantly searching the branches of the trees in the vague hope that hemight discover the runaway snugly squatted in some crotch and fastasleep. 

"I believe Toby's got an idea he's able to jabber monkey talk, " saidSteve, after the day was fairly well spent, and they could hardly coaxToby to come in to his midday meal, much less do his share of cooking;"and that he expects, if only he, might find where that slick old Linkholds out, he could pan-handle him, and get him to come into camp withus. "

"Now you're hewing pretty close to the line, " commented Bandy-legs, "andI'll let you know why. Toby's got a handful of the nut stuff in hispocket. I saw him get it out of the bag the circus man left with us. AndI just bet you he's thinking of tempting Link with it. "

Steve jumped up and stepped into the tent; he came out again with abroad grin on his face. 

"I was mistaken, glad to say!" he remarked. 

"About what?" Max asked him. 

"Well, when Bandy-legs here said Toby was running around with a pocketfull of the nut meat, it struck me that perhaps he'd scooped that bottleof hard stuff too, which Mr. Jenks said we might use to soak, first thedry bread and then Link. But the country is safe, for he never touchedit. "

"None of us have seen or heard anything of the monkey since he stoleToby's basket of frog legs this morning, " ventured Max; "and it may behe's left us--cleared out in disgust because what he steals here doesn'tseem to touch the right spot with him. "

"Don't mention that to Toby, or you'll give him the blind staggers, "said Steve; "because he's set his mind on capturing the monk; and whenToby gets a thing in that head of his he's a mighty unhappy fellow if hecan't carry it through. "

"What d'ye think, " Bandy-legs went on to say, "I heard him grumbling tohimself, and seems like he was wondering whether he couldn't keep theold monkey and let the two hundred go glimmering. Actually thinks moreabout an old rascal of a Simian than a handful of plunks. But we'rethree to one, and we'll see to it that no such fool deal as that goesthrough. "

"No danger of it, " chirped Steve, briskly; "that circus man thinks morethan two hundred of Link; and five times that wouldn't tempt him to letthe monkey slip through his fingers. Think of him coming away back herein hopes of bagging the slippery old scamp! No, if we do get hold ofthat Missing Link he's going to keep on amusing the circus public, andnot just Toby Jucklin. "

When the afternoon came to an end they managed to get the restless Tobyto come in near the campfire; but it was impossible for him to talk, oreven think of any other subject than capturing the stray monkey. 

Max had considered the subject, and arrived at a sensible conclusion. They had really come out just to break the ice for the new season, andwithout any definite object in view save to enjoy the open air, andrenew some of their pleasures of camp life. 

It would be as well for them to spend some of their time in inventingingenious traps calculated to ensnare the trick monkey. This would bepitting their smartness against that of a suspicious and clever animal;and if they won out why it would be reckoned not only a glorious triumphbut at the same time put a nice little sum of good money in theirpockets. 

He announced this policy as they were finishing their supper, and theothers had to smile to see the look of ecstatic joy that spread all overToby's face. 

"Oh! that's just fine of you boys to stand by me like that!" he burstout with, and not tripping even once, strange to say. "I'll never forgetit, give you my word I won't. And some time I'll find a chance to payyou back, see if I don't. "

"Hear! hear!" cried Steve. 

"Bravo!" exclaimed Max. 

"Good stuff, Toby, " remarked Bandy-legs, "and he never fell all overhimself once, you notice, fellers. "

"Of course, " Max continued, "we don't know whether we'll have anotherchance to see Link. He may have kicked the dust of these parts off hisfeet, and started out to find easier picking among the farmers' houses, where he could sneak in and loot the kitchens while the missus was outgathering eggs, or hanging up the wash. But if we can coax him to stayaround our camp we'll keep on hoping to get him in the end. "

"But, Max, " ventured Steve, "if all our smart traps go begging, and hegives us the merry ha! ha! every time, wouldn't you try thatmonkey-catcher trick the circus man told us about?"

"I've been thinking it over, " said Max, "and while I'd much prefer totake Link by some fairer scheme, if he is too sharp for us, why I reckonwe'll have to turn to that way. If he isn't captured he could live bystealing through the summer, but when the cold weather came the poorbeast would freeze to death, because he's a native of a hot climate, youknow. "

"G-g-good for you, Max!" exclaimed Toby, beaming with joy; "oh! I knownow we'll g-g-get Link in the end. And to coax him to hang out aroundhere r-r-right along I've g-g-gone and b-b-baited the place. "

"How?" questioned Bandy-legs. 

"I h-h-hunted up some likely p-p-places where I just thought he'd be aptto come and I p-p-put a few kernels of nuts in the crotch, each onecloser to the camp. You k-k-know that's the way they ketch wildt-t-turkeys, make a t-t-trap of lathes, and have a road leading into thesame, comin' up in the m-m-middle, covered over just inside. Then theystrew corn all along and up onto the t-t-trap. Mister T-t-turk he startspickin' up the g-g-grains, and is so busy that he f-f-follows on till hecomes up inside the slats. Then he g-g-gets so excited that he just runsaround and around, tryin' to p-p-poke his old head through the bars, andnever once rememberin' that he came up in the m-m-middle!"

"Well, now, that wasn't a halfway bad idea of yours, Toby, to bait aline with the nut meat, so's to coax Link to come closer, " Steveventured to say, after listening patiently to Toby's staggeringexplanation; "but tell us how you expect to trap the monk after you'vegot him close in? I take it that's goin' to be the job that'll make usthink we're up against a stone wall. "

"I saw Toby practicing with a piece of old rope this afternoon, throwing a lariat, and I bet you now he's meaning to try and drop a loopover the head of that Link, " Bandy-legs asserted. 

Max shook his head as though the idea did not find much favor with him. 

"A regular cow-puncher might manage to do it, " he remarked, "but nobungler like any one of us would be. That trick monkey is too quick andsmart to let a noose fall over his head while he's awake. You'd see himduck every time, and slip off, chattering like a parrot. You'll have totry something better than a lariat, Toby, if you hope to trap awideawake monkey. "

"Oh! well, I've been, h-h-hammering my h-h-head all the while, " Tobyexplained, "and I've fixed up a lot of g-g-good schemes that I'd like totry out. Once we g-g-get him to understand that there are n-n-nutsaround here, and he ain't goin' to desert us in a h-h-hurry; so I'llhave a c-c-chance to sample 'em all. "

"How about to-night; think it'll pay to rig that rope snare again, andbait it with some of the nuts?" asked Steve, who was rapidly becomingquite interested in the game, which appealed to his sporting instinctsmore and more the deeper he allowed himself to be drawn into it. 

"I expected to, " admitted Toby. 

"We might set a number of the rope snares, " suggested Bandy-legs, "sothat if he missed connections with one he'd get stuck in another. Theycould all be connected with that stout hickory stick; or mebbe we mightfind others just as full of spring. "

Max agreed that at least it would do no harm. 

"All the same, " he went on to tell Toby, "if I was you I wouldn't expecttoo much from that spring trap, no matter how many snares you set. Ifthat smart monkey really put that stick in the noose, and set it off forfun, or in spite, chances are you'll never trap him that way. He knowstoo much about tricks and all that. But we'll give the thing anothertry-out to-night, and if it doesn't work we'd better change off tosomething else. "

Accordingly all of them became very busy for some time. It was foundthat they could fasten two other cords to the same bent sapling, makinga regular network of nooses, among which they scattered some of the nutmeat which the circus man had brought along with him, knowing theweakness of the missing animal for the same. 

"Whew! if he eats up all that and doesn't get caught, I'll believe he'ssure a close relation of the Old Nick, " Steve gave as his opinion, afterthis labor had been completed, and they surveyed the trap withcomplacency. 

Toby was very enthusiastic. He declared that he felt it in his bonesthey would be awakened by a screaming and scolding, to find poor oldLink dangling in mid-air, gripped by the hind leg in one of thoseentangling nooses. He even went so far as to arrange the stout collar, with its padlock and chain, which Mr. Jenks had left with them beforegoing back, so as to have it handy in case of sudden need. 

None of them slept very soundly, even Toby, who as a rule could bedepended on to get his full share of rest. Not that there was any wildalarm, for the night crept on and everything remained peaceful enough;but all of the boys felt more or less excitement; and upon beingawakened by some dream would lie there listening, and occasionallypeeping out from the upturned flap of the tent. 

The fire smouldered, and went out, for no one ventured to replenish theexhausted fuel; and during the last section of the night there was noteven a spark remaining; only the cold moon above to dispel the darkness. 

Then came morning, and as Bandy-legs aroused them all with his kickingto get free from his blanket, which seemed to be twisted around hisneck, while his feet were chilled, they thought it best to start anotherday. 

Toby of course was out as soon as he could get some clothes on. He hadexpressed himself as keenly disappointed because there had been no signof the trap being sprung; but shortly after he went out to investigate, the others heard him coming back on the jump. 

"Sounds like he's found signs to tell that Link _did_ pay us a call, "suggested Steve, rightly guessing why Toby should manifest so muchexcitement. 

He proved to be a true prophet, for Toby, as soon as he reached them, burst out with his lament. 

"What d'ye think, he's been and d-d-done it, fellers? Say, there isn't ac-c-crumb of all that nut meat left; but he stepped over every n-n-nooseas neat as you p-p-please. My stars! but he's a c-c-corker. G-g-guessthey make him walk on the tops of a h-h-hundred bottles in thec-c-circus. He c'n do it easy, g-g-give you my word for it. He's aw-w-wonder, that's what he is. Whew! means I've g-g-got to do some morehigh thinkin' if I expect to g-g-grab that Link. But I will, if I haveto p-p-play hookey from school, and s-s-stay up here right along!"

Upon investigation it was found that the clever simian had indeedmanaged to pass in and out amidst that network of waiting loops withoutdisplacing even one of the same. Every crumb of the nut meat hadvanished, too, showing how careful the sly rascal had been, and cleanedup as he went. 

Bandy-legs suggested that perhaps woods rats might have done the trick, or even chipmunks or red squirrels; whereupon a close examinationdisclosed the plain imprints of the monkey's feet in numerous places, which proved the identity of the culprit beyond any dispute. 

Max was highly amused at the outcome, for he always liked to findhimself pitted against a worthy antagonist. He seldom felt like exertinghimself when the game was not worth the candle. He liked to cast a flyfor bass, and having deceived them with a feathery lure, play them witha slender rod and fine line, giving them the sportsman's chance to getfree if only they knew how to jump out of the water and throw themselvesacross the taut line. 

It began to look as though the boys had found a foeman worthy of theirsteel in this sly trick monkey; and they would possibly have all the funthey could want during the balance of their little Easter outing, intrying to outwit him. 

From time to time during that day they talked matters over. Toby was notleft alone in the endeavor to invent some scheme whereby Link might becaught. Steve hatched up one that they determined to try that samenight. It was to dig a pit, cover it skillfully with a delicate mattressthat, when sprinkled with earth would seem to be perfectly sound; butwhich was calculated to give way, once a weight of thirty pounds or morehad embarked on the covering. 

With high hopes, then, they carefully baited this trap just beforeretiring to the interior of the tent. Toby, always sanguine, wasconfident that it was going to work. He had told long stories as theysat around the camp fire, about how hunters of big game, sent out bythose who dealt in wild animals, always used this trap in the shape ofa pit in order to secure various species that could not be caught intheir lion and tiger nets. 

They had slept so poorly of late that once they did manage to forgetthings the entire four boys slumbered heavily for several hours. Anyordinary noise would not have awakened Toby when at home; indeed, hisfolks had threatened to get a patent bed that, connected with clock-workmachinery, would throw him out on the floor at a certain hour arrangedfor. But he had something on his mind now, and hence when there suddenlyarose a tremendous squealing and crashing, Toby was up on his feet asquickly as any of his three chums. 

"Whoop! hurrah! we've g-g-got him at last, fellers! Quick, let's hurryand k-k-keep the beggar from c-c-climbing out again! Oh! joy! D-d-didn'the make an awful r-r-row, though? Listen to him, would you? P-p-pleasehurry, Bandy-legs; you're as s-s-slow as molasses in winter!"

Not stopping to even pull on their shoes they all hastened to reach theouter air, and rush toward the spot where the pit had been dug. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE LAST CAMP FIRE--CONCLUSION

"Ain't he a squealer, though?" cried Steve, as they came close to theplace, and saw that the thin mattress had indeed been broken down. 

The sounds welled up from the hole they had dug, and there was some sortof movement down there. 

"Oh! let's h-h-hurry and g-g-get him fastened to this chain!" Toby wascrying. "He might j-j-jump out any minute unless we're c-c-careful. Max, have you thought about the l-l-lantern like you said you would?"

"It's here, all right, " replied the other; "now, surround the pit, whileI light up, so we can see how to get the old sinner out. "

Accordingly they formed what Steve called "a hollow square" around thehole in the ground, out of which was coming that series of discordantsqueals; but in Toby's ears no music could ever sound sweeter, for didthey not mean a clever victory over the shrewdest of wild animals, aneducated monkey?

Max had matches along, for a box had been fastened to the lantern, sothat no unnecessary delay might be encountered should they want to dothings in haste, and light was needed. 

When he had applied one of these to the wick, and turned down the globe, Max swung the lantern around, and then held it over the edge of the pitvery cautiously, for fear lest he further excite the occupant. 

Then they all stared down, expecting to see a shrinking monkey lookinghelplessly up at them, cowed by his capture. The squealing had suddenlyceased as the lantern light began to fall into the hole; they couldalready distinguish a form in the pit; and just then a plain, unmistakable _grunt_ smote their ears. 

"Oh! my s-s-stars!" gasped Toby, plainly astounded and disgusted. 

Steve gave a shout, and then laughed with all his might. 

"Why, what's this?" exclaimed Bandy-legs, looking again, "only a plainold _hog_ instead of a chattering monk? Say, this is a good one on us, fellers. Has it been this rooter and grunter that's been bothering usright along? Somebody kick me, won't you, please?"

Thereupon Steve accommodated him without the slightest hesitation. 

"Oh! this is only one of those accidents that will happen sometimes, "Max went on to explain. "We know it wasn't a pig that did all the othermischief, for we saw the tracks as plain as day. To-night it just cameabout that this porker, escaped from some farmer's pen, wandered intocamp, and found those nice nuts and other stuff that we piled up on thecover of the pit. So he started to have a midnight lunch all by himself, but the ice was too thin, and down he went. "

Even Toby had to laugh by that time, having partly recovered from hisgrievous disappointment. 

"Ain't this the greatest little puzzle we ever tackled?" Bandy-legs washeard to say; "and now that we've got something in our trap, why don'tyou use that chain and padlock, Toby? Here's a prize pet for you. Thinkof fastenin' the same up in your back yard, and tellin' folks you had awild boar in captivity. Regular sideshow freak business you might gointo. "

The imprisoned hog had started in to squeal once more. Perhaps itimagined the critical time in its life had arrived, when hams and loinswere in demand, and that it must maintain the reputation of its speciesfor making a row. 

"But great Cæsar's ghost! what ought we do about it?" exclaimed Steve, clapping both hands over his ears; "we can't stand for this all nightlong. "

"We must manage to get him out of that, some way or other, " Maxdeclared, positively. 

"Toby, you're so fond of everything that walks on four legs, s'pose youclimb down into the pit and lift Mr. Hog out?" suggested Bandy-legs. 

"What, me, and with only my p-p-pajamas on?" cried Toby; "I'd like tos-s-see myself adoin' that. Seems to me the b-b-best way would be todig a trench, and then shoo the old p-p-porker out. "

"That's what we'll do, " Max announced. "It would seem that the monkey istoo smart to step into a trap built like this, so we wouldn't have anyfurther need of the pit. Let's get some clothes on first, so we won'ttake cold, and then everybody dig. "

It was a duty they could not shirk, and before long they had managed toknock away part of the wall of the pit, so that an ordinary hog mightmanage to scramble up the incline from the depths. 

Then they all gathered on the other side, and "shooed, " and waved theirarms as well as the lantern. The prisoner of the pit, alarmed no doubtfor his safety, and seeing an opening for escape, started to climb, withsuch success that presently he reached level ground, gave a satisfiedgrunt, and then trotted off into the neighboring woods. 

The four boys were laughing among themselves as they once more went backto the warmth of their blankets. 

"Another dream shattered, " said Steve, "and count me out after this whenit comes to hatching up dark schemes against that poor ape. Some of therest of you can try your hands if you want; but ten to one we'll have toget down to hard gravel in the end, and use that wild-animal-catcherstunt with the doped stuff. To tell you the truth I'm sort of hoping wewill, because I'd like to see how it works. "

"M-m-me too, Steve!" exclaimed Toby; "and I only h-h-hope Max say's theword after we've tried a few more games, and find they don't w-w-workany. "

"I'll fix the limit for another night, " said Max, "and then if we haven'tbeen successful in trapping the monkey I'll agree to try Mr. Jenks'plan. "

With that all of the others declared they would rest content, though itseemed as though Bandy-legs, as well as Steve and Toby, was willing toproceed to extremes as soon as possible, only Max objecting to the planas hardly fair to the monkey. 

Another day passed, and they amused themselves in various ways, takingpictures, fishing for pickerel in the big pond with fair success, andmaking arrangements for trying out another idea that night, in hopes ofcapturing the smart monkey. 

This consisted of a trap fashioned somewhat on the order of the turkeycage mentioned by Toby. It was built of stout canes, carried all the wayfrom the pond, and with the corner joints spliced with cord. Then adescending roadway was carefully dug out, and brought up inside thecage. A trigger was arranged, to be sprung should the monkey, infollowing the roadway, enter the cage, and which would release a littledoor that, falling into place, would shut the opening, and at the sametime ring a bell Toby had fixed close to where his head would be as heslept. 

Altogether it was quite an ingenious contraption; but all the samethere was no bell ringing during _that_ night: And yet when Toby wentout next morning to examine his disappointing contrivance he reportedthat the monkey had actually been there, and eaten up all the nut meat, even going inside the trap, and never setting the trigger off. 

Sure enough they did find his tracks in the roadway as far as the trap, but no further, which told them the animal was too smart to be caught bysuch a flimsy device. 

Toby insisted on it that he had gone inside, because the bait had allvanished; but Max, having lifted the cage aside, showed that there wasnot a sign of the monkey's footprints there. On the other hand he toldthem the inside bait had plainly been devoured by little mice, for heshowed them innumerable tracks made by their dainty feet. 

So Toby declared that he was done. 

"He's too cute for m-m-me, fellers, I admit, " he said; "though if itwasn't for that fetching bait left by Mr. Jenks I'd k-k-keep on tryin'till I didn't know my own name. But now, Max, l-l-let 's g-g-get busy inearnest. "

As he had promised them, Max would not draw back. The balance of the nutmeat and some of the dried bread he put in a pannikin, and poured aportion of the contents of the bottle over the mess, until the liquidwas soaked up. 

This was done at a certain spot where they believed the monkey was mostapt to show himself. Then the boys went away, one of them remaining onsentry duty at some little distance off, so as to give the signal shouldLink make his appearance. 

The whole morning passed without the monkey showing up. Lunch had beenserved, and the one on duty relieved, so that he could take his turn atthe rude table they had constructed near the tent. 

Bandy-legs was the sentinel now, and would remain on post until aboutthe middle of the afternoon, unless something happened to break thedreadful monotony. 

It did. 

About two o'clock Bandy-legs came running in, all out of breath, withthe exciting news that the monkey had appeared, just as they hoped, andwas even then busily engaged in disposing of the doped food as greedilyas anything. 

So they all trooped out to witness the strange sight. Toby carried alongthe chain and collar and padlock left in his charge by the showman; forhe kept hoping that the time had now come when he might find a good usefor the same. 

True enough, they discovered the big monkey busily at work. His likingfor strong drink was apt to prove his undoing, even as it has that ofcountless millions of the human race. Watching him eating like astarving thing, the boys exchanged many humorous remarks. 

By the time Link had appeased his appetite he could hardly stand upstraight, and Max declared there was now no longer any reason why theyshould not surround and capture him. 

It was almost too easy after all. The stupid beast made no attempt toflee, for he staggered whenever he tried to move. He also seemed tounderstand his condition, for at their approach he held out one handtoward them pitifully, as though seeking their assistance to guide hisfaltering footsteps. 

And so the exulting Toby quickly fixed that collar around his neck, snapped the little-padlock shut, and gripping the chain led the way tocamp, followed by the others, with Steve holding one of the poormonkey's hands, and Max the other. 

That was the story of Link's downfall and capture. The evening followinghe sat there, secured to a tree, and holding his head between his handsas though it ached terribly, and blinked at the boys whenever theyapproached; but with not even a whimper of complaint, just a little moanat times. 

In the morning the monkey seemed to be all right again, and full ofcomical antics. And after that Toby spent about all his time hoveringaround the place where Link was chained, talking to him, coaxing him toshow off by tempting pieces of food, and enjoying himself more thanwords could tell. 

Their vacation was drawing to a close, and while they had not met withany really thrilling adventures, still the four chums were a unit indeclaring that they had never had a better time. 

A deep mystery had been solved, and they had caught the monkey which wasto net them such a dazzling reward. Max had become reconciled to themeans employed, as it was all for the beast's own good; and Linkhimself, apparently had forgotten that there was such a thing asfreedom. 

When the time came for them to break camp, they took down thekhaki-colored tent with the customary sad rites, chanting in unison thechorus of "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground. "

They were a merry lot as they started the old horse homeward, and withthe captive monkey in their midst to keep them company. They had tomaintain a watch on Link, for he was apt to pinch them, snatch anythinghe could see, from a watch to a lead pencil, and was as full of hispranks "as an egg is of meat, " as Steve said. 

When they arrived home Max hastened to wire Mr. Jenks of their success, and on the very next train the delighted circus man appeared in Carson, to claim the valuable runaway, and gladly turned over the two hundreddollars to the chums. 

What that represented to Max and his three mates in paying the expensesof the next great outing they planned will be told in the next story ofthis series, to be called "Afloat on the Flood. "

Until we meet again in the pages of that volume we will have to bid theboys of Carson good-bye for a short time, shake hands with the reader, and turn down the light. 

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[Transcriber's Note: For short books such as "Chums of the Campfire, "it was common for the publisher to add additional material. "Mortimer Halleck's Adventure" was chosen to accompany the maintext in this edition. ]

V. 

MORTIMER HALLECK'S ADVENTURE. 

Among the many adventurous incidents of our frontier life in northwestIowa, fifteen years ago, I recall one that befell a boy neighbor, Mortimer Halleck, in which his recklessness came very near causing hisdeath. 

There were five of us boys, who formed a little company of tried friendsand pledged comrades. We hunted, trapped, boated, went skating andswimming together, and, when the first frame school-house was built, weoccupied the two back seats, on the boys' side. 

In our hunts after deer, wolves, badgers, and feathered game, we foundan exhilaration such as I never again expect to experience in the tamerpursuits of life. We even felt an exultant joy in the fierce buffetingof the winter blizzards which annually descended upon us from theplateaus of Dakota. 

During the regular season of bird migration, the resounding _golunk_, _golunk_, of the wild goose, the shrill _klil-la-la_ of the swift andwary brant, the affectionate _qu-a-a-rr-k_, _quack_ of the Mallard drakeand his mate, with the strange, inimitable cry of the whooping crane, combined to form a sylvan orchestra, the music of which thrilled us withmore pleasurable sensations than were ever awakened by the householdorgan or the town brass band of later years. 

In the early spring, during the alternate slush, mud and freeze of thefirst thaws, there always occurred a short vacation from school andwork, in which we gathered a harvest of fun, fur and feathers. 

At this season, the low, flat valleys of the Little Sioux and theOcheyedan rivers were covered six or eight feet deep by the annualoverflow; and torrents of yellow snow-water, the melting of tremendousdrifts, rushed down creeks and ravines. 

As soon as these impetuous currents had gathered force enough to upheavethe thick layers of ice in the river-beds and break over the banks outcame beaver, musk-rat and mink, driven from house and hole to takerefuge upon the masses of ice and drift stuff which lodged in thethickets of tall willows that grew along the beds of these streams. Herethey were obliged to stay until the water subsided, and here they oftenfell a prey to the rifle or shotgun of the hunter. 

We owned three boats in common; and as the men of the settlement werenot particularly busy during the freshet season, we could easilypersuade or hire them to load our skiffs on their wagons, and haul useight or ten miles up the Sioux or Ocheyedan, for half a day's run downhome, in which scarcely the stroke of an oar was necessary, aftergetting out into the main channel. Floating leisurely down, we were ableto hunt musk-rat, geese and ducks, which were plentiful on the water oron the banks. 

Beaver were scarce, but we occasionally got one. A mink or two, a coupleof dozen muskrats, and a goodly bag of feathered game were often theresult of a half-day's run with a single boat. 

Mortimer Halleck, who at this time lived in the fork of the rivers, andat a considerable distance from the rest of as, owned a staunch skiff, which he had himself made, and in it went often alone upon the rivers. It was upon one of these solitary trips that he met with the adventurementioned. 

On a raw afternoon in March, his father had taken Mortimer and his boaton his double horse wagon six miles up stream. At this point there was agreat bend in the river, and, by crossing the neck, the water distanceto the fork was lengthened to fifteen miles. Mortimer was thus setafloat with his boat, with a long afternoon's run on the river beforehim. 

For several hours the young hunter allowed his boat to drift down withthe current, then swollen to an unusual height. His eyes, roving oneither hand, were now and then rewarded with the sight of a small brownbunch of fur, resting on a bit of lodged drift. Then followed a quickpuff of smoke, and the echoing report from the shotgun. The troubles ofthe furry little chap were at an end. The kinks would straighten out ofits small humped back, and, as a deft turn of the oars brought the boatalongside, the hunter's hand would reach over the edge, grasp the long, slim tail, and fling the body of the sleek little _musquash_ into theboat. 

Twice during the afternoon a flock of geese had ventured low down overthe drifting boatman, and each time one of the flock had fallen avictim. The others had hurried away in noisy confusion. He had hardlyexpected to find beaver, yet as the night drew on without a sight ofone, he felt a little disappointed. True, he had secured a profitablelot of game: two geese, a mink, and more than a dozen muskrats. 

But he wanted to show a beaver with the rest of his bag, and he hadabout given up his hopes of it when, just as the sun was setting andwhile he was passing down the mid channel between two long lines ofclustering willow thickets, he espied the very object of his desiresdirectly ahead and within easy range. 

The animal was rolled up in a rusty brown ball, lying in a snug nestamid the bushy sprouts from an elm stub which projected three or fourfeet above the water. The tree had been broken off, and leaned out fromthe summer banks of the river. It had grown, as elm stumps often do, adense fringe of short, tangled brush about the end of the trunk. Amongthese sprouts the beaver had fashioned a nest, and was lying curled up, asleep, when Mortimer, drifting silently down within short range, raisedhis gun and shot at it. 

But the beaver is a "hard-lived" animal, and, even when shot at suchclose quarters, will quite frequently flop off its perch into the water, and, clutching with teeth and claws into roots or grass at the bottom, remain there. In that case, the hunter's ammunition is simply wasted. 

This had happened more than once in Mortimer's experience, and, fearingthat it might happen again, for he saw the beaver floundering heavily inits nest, he brought the boat about in great haste, circled around thestump, and jammed the bow into the sprouts. He then dropped the oars, and sprang forward to secure the game. 

His haste was unfortunate; for, though he grasped at the small limbsquickly enough to have held the boat in place if it had not been inmotion, his impetus was so great that the unsteady skiff recoiledbackward with a force that pitched him over the prow, upon the very topof the stub. He lurched off to one side, and his feet and legs splashedinto the water; but he escaped a complete ducking by clenching the topof the trunk with his left arm, while with his right hand he grasped_one foot of the beaver_! And then he glanced around for his boat. 

[Illustration: Mortimer looked after it in utter dismay. --Page 58. ]

It was gone, and had left him in a most perilous situation. The lightskiff, impelled by the force of his fall out of it, had floated backinto the current, and was already more than a dozen yards out, movingdown stream. 

Mortimer looked after it in utter dismay. 

It was now too late to make a swim for it; he could never live in thatstrong, icy current long enough to reach it. 

With a few cautious hitches he succeeded in gaining a ticklish seat uponthe broken top of the stump, where he maintained himself by resting hisfeet upon two of the stoutest sprouts. Seated thus, he could feel anunsteady quivering of the trunk, a trembling, wrenching motion, thattold, but too plainly, of the powerful force of the flood, and of theuncertain tenure which he possessed on even this comfortless refuge. 

The lad was now thoroughly alarmed, and surveyed his surroundings with agrowing fear that gained not a ray of hope from the prospect. Thesituation was truly a grave one. 

On all sides was the hurrying flow of the grim, dark waters, whichrushed swirling and eddying onward. The current swashed dismally amongthe slender, swaying willows, on either side; and beyond these, he knewthat there was at least three hundred yards of swimming depth beforeeither shore could be reached. 

If any one should happen to pass, he could not, from the land, seeMortimer, on account of the willows. The nearest house was three or fourmiles distant; and a voice could be heard but a little distance, abovethe swash of the flood and the rush of the cold wind. 

Mortimer's parents did not expect him to return until late in theevening, and they would probably make no effort to learn of hiswhereabouts until after midnight. The night, too, was already growingvery cold, with a raw, gusty wind that soughed drearily among thewillows; his bare hands and wet feet were fast becoming chilled andnumb. 

All the desolation, helplessness and misery of the situation were forcedupon him by that keen and merciless power of reflection which so oftenattacks the mind in moments of extreme peril or of sudden disaster. 

He saw but too plainly that it was useless to look for rescue beforemorning, and, clinging there to his bleak and uncertain perch, he feltthat he would assuredly chill to death in a few hours. 

Looking out into the gloom of the coming dusk, with the long, black, freezing night staring him in the face, tears gathered in the poorfellow's eyes, and a lump of choking misery rose up in his throat. Yethe was a brave fellow, who had never been known to yield an inch beforeany danger which must be met, when the balance of probabilities wasadjusted with any degree of fairness. In this case, the probabilitieswere all on one side, and that side was against him. 

"There just aint any chance for me at all, " he groaned, at length. "I'min a much worse predicament than the beaver and muskrats; for if they doget killed, it's so sudden they don't know it, but I've got to die byinches. I've just got to sit here and freeze a little at a time, till Ifall off and finish life by drowning. "

A wretched enough prospect! Yet that was the fate which seemed certainlyawaiting him. Wet as he was, and already shivering, with no chance forexercise, there seemed little chance of surviving the cold, dismalnight. 

Sitting in hopeless suffering, he peered about him again and again inthe gathering darkness, in the vain hope of discovering something thatcould give him an atom of comfort. Then, whipping his numbed hands abouthis shoulders until they tingled, he attemped to remove his soaked andstiffening boots; but, owing to his shaky and uncertain seat, he wasbaffled in this effort also. 

Then, with feet and legs growing every moment more numb, he sat, clinging with one hand to the stump, whipping the other, shouting atintervals, and waiting for--he dared not think what. 

An hour passed; then another; dumb, dreary despair had settled upon hismind. Insensibly he fell into a half-frozen stupor. He was beginning tothink, in a numb way, that it did not make any particular difference tohim what happened now. 

An hour or more dragged by thus sluggishly, then a sudden shock, accompanied by a grinding noise, threw him partly off the stump. Instinctively he clutched the sprouts with his chilled fingers, but sliddown, expecting to sink in the cold waters. 

But he struck something solid and white. It was a large ice-cake, whichhad come floating down the river and touched the elm stump. The jar ofhis fall roused the boy; he staggered to his feet, feeling _strange_ inhis head, and with queer and painful sensations about the arms andshoulders. 

He tried to step, but at first it seemed as if his feet must be frozen;yet, after stamping about for a few minutes, they began to lose theirfeeling of lumpishness and to prickle. 

He then sat down upon the ice, and, after a struggle, worked off hisboots, squeezed the water from his socks, and chafed and pounded hisfeet until they felt alive. This done, he got up and looked around; andhope revived within him. 

The ice-cake was a large and solid one, twenty feet across at least;and, owing to the falling of the river, it was floating down the centreof the channel. He was, at least, floating toward home; and there wasroom to stamp about and keep from freezing. 

Mortimer's spirits rose with the renewed circulation of the blood. Heshouted, beat his arms about his chest, he even danced, the better towarm himself up again. 

It seemed to him now that he was being guided by fate. He then becameconfused in mind--dazed, as it were. In odd vagary, as his ice-raftfloated on down the river, he peopled the darkness about him withimaginary foes, and "squared off" at them pugnaciously. His bloodwarming with this exercise, he began delivering in grandiloquent tonesthe address which he had declaimed at school, when a voice from thedarkness near at hand brought him back to his situation. 

"Mortimer!"

"Halloo!" he answered. 

"Mortimer, is it _you_?"

"Is that you, father?" cried the young castaway, "have you got a boat?"

"Yes, " replied Mr. Halleck; "but we have been alarmed. What has kept--"

"Paddle your skiff this way, father. Here, this way; I'm on a cake ofice. "

"On a cake of ice!" cried Mr. Halleck. "I knew you were in some trouble. What has happened? I borrowed Neighbor Wescott's boat, and was going tocross over to see if you were at Morley's with Pete, when I heard yourvoice. "

Mortimer was astonished to find he had already drifted so far. 

"How much longer could you have stood it!" Mr. Halleck asked, in tonesthat trembled a little. 

"Not another half-hour, " Mortimer declared, and probably he was right. 

Next day he succeeded in finding his boat, safely lodged among somewillows; but the beaver was missing, having probably been jarred off thenest on the stub by the ice-cake striking against it. 

The river had lowered considerably, and Mortimer, while searching forhis boat, saw numerous ice-rafts moving down the channel; yet he couldnot repress a conviction that something more than mere good fortune haddirected the ice-cake to touch at his bleak and comfortless perch in thenick of time to save his life. 

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