his gun and vanished from the sight of his chums.

He had taken particular note of every step of the route along the bank
with this night journey in view. And he felt now that he could silently
make his way along without anything bordering upon an accident. Had any
of the others been with him a clumsy mis-step was apt to create trouble;
and Bandy-legs in particular was always getting into a mess.

Max had reached a point about halfway up the shore of Catamount Island
when he suddenly stopped short and crouched low. Surely that was the low
sound of voices coming to his ear. And he immediately recognized the
fact that the murmur must be carried across the water, which is such a
splendid conveyer of sounds.

Then some persons must be coming off from the shore in a boat! His mind
went back to what Steve had seen of the two men in gray uniforms. Were
they about to land on the island now, bent upon recapturing the
desperate man who was hiding there.

Max had just about come to this decision when he had occasion to alter
his views of the matter. He heard a peculiar little cough, which struck
him as mighty familiar. Their old enemy, Ted Shafter, had an odd way of
making such a sound; and there were those who said it was caused by
smoking so many cigarettes. Did this cigarette cough mean that Ted and
his two cronies were coming to play a practical joke on the campers of
Catamount Island?