"If I do you'll hear of it quick enough," answered Snap.

Then with great caution he crawled through the brushwood in the
direction of the distant campfire.




CHAPTER XXII

A LIVELY TIME IN THE DARK


Slowly but surely Snap got closer to the campfire, which was built
in a little hollow and screened from the lake by a wall of rocks.

"They built the fire there so that we couldn't see it from across
the lake," reasoned the young hunter, and he was right.

Presently he was near enough to make out six forms around the
fire. Then he recognized Ham Spink, Carl Dudder, Jack Voss, and
some other of the lads of the town who usually went with Ham and
Carl. One boy, named Ike Akley, was a ne'er-do-well, who had
once set a barn on fire and burned up two cows. For this he had
been locked up, but his father had procured his release by paying
heavy damages.

The crowd around the campfire were eating supper and talking in
such low tones that Snap could not make out what was said. They