"The camp will be all right," Dave agreed.

"Of course," Tom assented. "Anyway, there's nothing here worth
stealing that would be small enough to carry away."

"Except the food," hinted Danny Grin.

"This is too far off the main roads for tramps to come this way,"
Dick replied.

So Dalzell, with a sigh, rose to accompany Reade and Hazelton.

Dick and his two companions thoroughly explored the shore as far
as they went on the lower part of the lake. From time to time
Prescott consulted his watch. In all the time that they were
out they passed only one building, a tumble-down, weather-beaten
shack that looked as though it had not been inhabited in twenty
years. Not even a vestige of a craft was found.

"It's time to go back," said Dick at last. "Too bad we couldn't
find anything."

"There must have been boats on this lake at one time," hinted
Dave, "or else there wouldn't be that broken-down old pier near
the camp."

"I guess there was a time when this lake was a fishing ground
to supply the Gridley and other near-by markets," Dick went on.
"But, fellows, there's a curious thing about these fish markets