Out with Gun and Camera Part 18

A STRANGE MEETING

"Something is wrong!" cried Snap, leaping up and feeling for his gun.

"What is it, Wags?"

The dog kept on barking and commenced to tug on the cord that held him.

"Shall I let him loose?" asked Whopper. All the boys were now on their feet, and he and Giant were rubbing their eyes. The wind had shifted and was blowing the smoke of the smoldering camp fire toward the tent.

"Don't do it---yet," answered the doctor's son. "He might bite somebody. Let us go outside first."

"Maybe it's that crazy hermit," suggested Whopper, and gave a little shiver. He could still see that impish face glaring at him. "Be careful."

One after another the young hunters stepped into the open, each with his gun ready for use. Shep stirred up the camp fire and threw on some lightwood, causing a renewed blaze.

"I don't see anything wrong," said Shep after a long look around.

"See any wild beasts?" asked Giant. "Wags would bark at a wild beast, I am sure."

"Nothing in sight now."

All walked completely around the tent and the camp fire, but failed to see anything out of the ordinary. The collie had now ceased barking and was wagging his tail, apparently as happy and free from anxiety as ever.

"The dog must have dreamed he heard something," grumbled Whopper.

"Hang the luck! I was so sleepy!" And he yawned broadly, setting his chums to doing likewise.

"Well, dogs do dream sometimes," admitted the doctor's son. "But what made him bark so loudly and look so mad?"

n.o.body could answer that question, and n.o.body tried. They took another look around the tent, fixed the fire again, and at last one by one retired to rest once more, Wags at the foot of the tent pole as before.

It was broad daylight when they awoke again, and for a while n.o.body felt like stirring. At length Snap looked at his watch.

"Great mackerel!" he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Eight o'clock! Time we were getting breakfast and moving."

"That's so," answered Shep. "Still, there is no great hurry. Our time is our own. That's the charm of such an outing as this."

"I think we might stay here to-day," came from Giant. "It will give us a chance to rest up and to fish. Remember, we won't have much fishing after we get to the mountains."

"We can get brook trout," answered Whopper. "But just the same I'm willing to stay here to-day and fish. Maybe we can get some big maskalonge, same as we did before."

"And if we can't get those we can get some pickerel and ba.s.s and perch," added Giant.

Snap had promised to get breakfast ready, and he set in with a will as soon as he was dressed. While he was working Giant and Whopper walked down to a cove, where the boat had been left, to look over their rods and lines. The doctor's son busied himself with a camera, determined to take a few pictures before leaving the lake sh.o.r.e.

Suddenly there came from the cove a hurried shouting that instantly attracted the attention of Snap and Shep.

"What are they saying?" demanded the doctor's son.

"I don't know---something about the boat," answered Snap, and dropping the coffee-pot he held he ran toward the lake. Shep set the camera on a box and followed.

When they arrived at the cove they found Giant and Whopper gazing up and down and across the water in perplexity. The rowboat, with the larger portion of their outfit, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the boat?" demanded Snap.

"That's what we want to know," answered Giant.

"Didn't you leave it tied up?"

"Certainly I did---to this elderberry bush."

"Well, where is it now

"Don't ask me."

"Did Giant tie the boat?" asked the doctor's son. He had not seen the craft since the parting at the rapids.

"Yes, I did---and I tied it good and fast, too," answered the small youth. "Snap saw me do it."

"Yes, I saw him tie it up, but I thought maybe he shifted the boat afterward."

"No, I left it just as it was tied up."

The boy hunters looked blankly at one another. All gazed up and down the sh.o.r.e and across the lake.

"Maybe Ham Spink-----" began Snap.

"If he took our boat I'll---I'll kick him full of holes!" cried Giant. He had not forgotten how Spink and his cronies had annoyed them in the past.

"I don't see any footprints around here," remarked the doctor's son, looking over the ground carefully.

"Here's a tree branch broken," said Whopper.

"They might have come in a boat and towed our craft away," suggested Snap.

"Boys, I know why Wags barked during the night!" cried Giant. "He heard somebody at the boat."

"Yes, and we didn't know enough to come down here," added Snap bitterly. "If we had come we could have caught the boat-stealers redhanded."

A lively discussion followed, but it did nothing toward enlightening the boy hunters. The one fact remained that the boat and a large portion of the outfit were gone, and unless the craft could be recovered their outing would come to a premature finish.

"All I can think of to do is to take our guns and walk up and down the lake front," said the doctor's son. "Two can go one way, and two the other. If you see anything, shout or fire a gun."

"Shall we have breakfast first?" asked Snap, "It's started."

"Might as well, since we don't know how long this search will last."

Much disappointed, the chums walked back to the camp fire and there made a hasty meal of cold partridge, crackers, cheese and coffee.

They left Wags tied to the tent pole.