Out with Gun and Camera Part 32

"All right---you come up and locate it," grumbled Snap.

Shep came up and so did Whopper, and all three of the lads gazed longingly, first in one direction and then in another. Nothing but what Snap had mentioned greeted their eyes.

"Boys, we are lost!" cried Whopper.

"Oh, no, we're not lost---we are here," answered Snap. "The camp is lost."

"It's the same thing---so far as we are concerned."

"I think that is Firefly Lake," said Shep, pointing to a hazy spot in the distance. "And if it is, then our camp may lay around on the upper side of this mountain."

"That may be true."

"Shall we try to walk it?"

"Might as well, Shep. We don't want to stay here all night."

"And we don't want to walk two or three miles out of our way," put in Whopper. "I'm getting mighty tired---not having had a good rest last night."

"We are having one adventure on top of the other," said the doctor's son with a grim smile. "Well, is it go forward or stay here?"

n.o.body wanted to stand still, and so they descended to the ground and moved off in the new direction settled upon. All were f.a.gged out, so progress was slow. They encountered some squirrels and Snap brought down two and stowed them away with his partridge.

"There's a cat!" cried Shep suddenly, and ran forward. Then of a sudden he stopped and smiled, while Whopper and Snap roared.

"Better give that cat a wide berth," suggested Snap, "unless you want to put a whole perfumery shop to shame." And they did give the animal a wide berth, for it was a skunk, and one "ready for business," as Snap afterward expressed it.

By nightfall they were still deep in the woods. All were now exhausted, and coming to a fallen tree Snap dropped to rest and so did his chums.

"Boys, we have missed it," said the doctor's son seriously. "I must confess I haven't the least idea where our camp is!"

"And that means we'll have to stay out in these woods all night,"

returned Whopper.

"More than likely."

CHAPTER XXII

THE SPINK CROWD AGAIN

The prospect was not a pleasant one for the three boy hunters. It was not that they were afraid over the fact that they were lost in the woods on the mountain side. But they knew that Giant and Tommy would be greatly worried over their absence, and it was possible, yes, probable, that the two lads might have trouble with Ham Spink and his cronies.

"Ham will be as mad as a hornet if he had much trouble finding his boat," said Snap, in talking the situation over. "And the first thing he'll think of will be to get square."

"Well, if we can't get back we can't get back, and that is all there is to it," answered the doctor's son philosophically. "We've got to make the best of it."

"And then that lion-----" added Whopper. But to this the others merely shrugged their shoulders.

They found a spot that seemed as good as any, and collecting some dry sticks built a camp fire and made themselves a supper. They were footsore and weary and glad to rest. Inside of an hour after eating all of the lads fell asleep, and each slept soundly until morning.

Snap was the first to awaken, and, letting the others rest, he replenished the camp fire and got breakfast ready. There was a sameness about their food that was not very appetizing, but this could not be helped.

"When I get back I'm going to live a whole day on pancakes and beans and bacon," said Whopper. "No more rabbits for me, or partridge, either."

"That's the one drawback to camping out," returned the doctor's son.

"One does get awfully tired of eating game."

It was again a question of how to proceed, and once more they mounted a tree to take observations. They now saw two columns of smoke arising on the air, not a great distance off.

"Our camp fire and that of the Spink crowd!" exclaimed Snap. "I'll wager a b.u.t.ton on it."

"I believe you are right," answered Shep. "We'll make for the nearest of 'em, anyway."

They set off at a brisk pace, taking as direct a route as the nature of the ground permitted. On the way they came to a large patch of huckleberry bushes and found the berries ripe and luscious.

"Let's pick some," said Whopper. "Then we can make huckleberry dumplings, or something like that."

"What about huckleberry pie?" suggested Snap.

"Great!"

They stopped long enough to pick several quarts of the berries, stowing the fruit away in one of the cleaned-out game bags. Then on they went as before.

Soon they broke through the woods into a clearing, and on the opposite side of this saw a camp, with several boys lolling around a camp fire. They were members of the Spink crowd and included d.i.c.k Bush and Carl Dudder.

"Say, where did you come from?" demanded Carl Dudder as he espied them and leaped to his feet.

"From the woods," answered Shep calmly.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, Dudder, excepting to pa.s.s."

"Huh! You needn't look so innocent-like, Shep Reed! We know what you did to our boat," put in d.i.c.k Bush.

"What did we do to it?" asked Whopper.

"You know well enough. Think you're smart, don't you?" growled Carl.

"We know what you were going to do to our boat," put in Snap.

"What?"

"You heard what I said. We only got ahead of you, that's all."