"I got lost!" was the quick reply.

"You go 'way!" shouted the trapper.

"Aw, what's the matter with letting him stay here all night?" asked
Thede. "These boys are hunting and fishing, and the kid got lost
in the swamp. He's all right!"

"He follow me!" insisted Pierre.

"Sure, I did!" George replied, trying to give the impression that
the matter was rather a good joke on himself. "I heard you
smashing through the bushes and I thought you were some kind of a
wild animal, and so I followed you up. I got so far away from camp
that I couldn't find my way back. Then I saw your light and came
here."

"Where your gun?" demanded Pierre, pointing suspiciously to the
boy's empty hands. "You no shoot without gun!"

George drew an automatic from his pocket and held it up in the
firelight. Pierre eyed it enviously.

"We hunt with these things!" the boy said.

Pierre continued to regard the boy with suspicion, for a long time
but he finally seated himself before the fire and began to grumble
because Thede had not been more active in the preparations for
supper.