Each fellow bring back an armful of dry wood. Hustle!"

Dick himself was the first to return, about three minutes later.
He came in fast, for he expected that the steak would be ready
to remove from the grate.

Long before he reached the stoves, however, Dick dropped his wood
and his lower jaw simultaneously.

"Hurry up, fellows!" he called hoarsely. "Hurry and see what
has happened!"

That note of real distress in his voice caused the others to come
running.

"Well, if you haven't an appetite!" gasped Tom. "To go and eat
all the steak yourself!"

"I didn't eat any of it," Dick retorted grimly. "From the looks
of things none of the rest of us will eat any of it, either."

"A dog got it, or some wild animal!" guessed Greg.

"No one animal could carry off four pieces of steak in his mouth
at a time," Prescott answered, thinking fast. "And the tin plate
I left here has gone with the meat. Animals don't lug off tin
plates."

"Dick and I will stay behind to watch and take account of stock,"
Tom called. "The rest of you scatter through the woods and try