"I woke him up," said Giant. "Something has gone wrong, or he would be
here by this time."

They waited five minutes longer, and Snap was on the point of going to
Whopper's home when they saw the missing club member approaching on a
run.

"What in the world kept you so long?" cried Shep.

"Oh, I had a little set-to with Barney Hedge," answered Whopper. "He
said some things I didn't like and I rolled him over in the snow and
put some down his back to help him cool off."

"Barney Hedge," repeated Snap. He knew the fellow mentioned to be a
crony of Ham Spink and Carl Dudder. "What was it about?"

"Oh, about our outing last summer. It seems Hedge and the others are
starting a report that we didn't shoot the game we brought in, but
that Jed Sanborn brought down the most of it for us."

"How mean!" cried Giant.

"He said we couldn't shoot but that we were all blowers--and if left
to ourselves in this cold weather we would starve to death and freeze
in the bargain. I couldn't stand for that, so I pitched into him."

"Good for you!" shouted Giant. "I hope you gave him something to
remember."