Max looked around as best he could with such a poor light.

"I don't see the first sign of any tracks here," he remarked.

"Shucks, the chances are Bandy-legs might have kicked in the night, and
that was enough to set the loop free!" Steve declared.

"He couldn't do that," answered Max; "I fixed that string in such a way
there was no danger of it happening. But I rather think some fox in
hunting around set the thing off, but didn't get caught in the spread
loop. It was set for bigger game, you remember, boys."

"Well, I'm going back to my blanket again," said Owen. "It feels chilly
out here, and there's no use staying."

Even Bandy-legs seemed to have lost all faith in his wonderful snare;
for he declined to stay long enough to put it in working order again.
Twice now it had gone off, and there could be no telling what the third
result might be if he ventured to try it again, which he would not.

There was no further alarm, and at dawn the boys came piling out of
their tents. The weather seemed to have grown a bit sultry, so Max
remarked that perhaps a dip in the water of the Big Sunflower might not
feel out of the way.

So they had a happy little time of it, splashing each other, and
carrying on as any five carefree lads might be expected to; until all of
them decided they had had enough, when dressing was the next thing on
the programme.