“We’re a lot of doughheads,” grumbled Shep.   “Come all the way for
those deer and then-----Oh, say, let’s go back home!”

“I wasn’t thinking the deer would come this way,” said Snap.  “But this proves the truth of Jed Sanborn’s words.  He told me when I went hunting I must be ready for a shot all the time.”

There was an awkward silence.  The boys were bitterly chagrined.

“Can’t we follow them up again?” asked Giant.

“Not to-night,” answered Whopper.  “They may go several miles before they stop.  They got so close to us that they were thoroughly scared.  My, what an opportunity we lost for bagging at least four of them!”

“We better not tell anybody of this experience,” said Whopper.  “If we do, everybody will have the laugh on us.”

It was growing dark already and they thought the best they could do would be to go down to the lake and row back to camp.  During the day they had allowed some small game to pass unmolested, and this now added to their discomfiture.

“I am going to stir up something before I go back,” declared Whopper.

“So am I,” added Snap.

It took the best part of an hour to get back to the lake shore, and on the way they discovered several rabbits, some squirrels, and over a dozen birds of good size.  The bringing down of this game served to raise their spirits a bit, but they still felt decidedly sore whenever they thought of the deer.

It was nightfall when they rowed across the lake and struck the shore in front of their camp.  While Giant tied up the boat the others hurried to the cabin.

“Hullo! somebody has been here!” exclaimed Snap, glancing around hastily.

His words were true, as the others could readily see.  All of their stores had been overhauled and some few of them taken away.  On the floor lay the broken bowl of a clay pipe and near it some half-burnt tobacco.

“Hullo!  Anybody around here?” called out Shep, and ran outside to gaze around.  No answer came back, nor did anybody show himself.

“It was evidently a man, and he smoked a clay pipe,” said Snap.

“Couldn’t have been Jed Sanborn?” asked Whopper.  “He smokes, sometimes.”

“No; Jed wouldn’t tumble the stores around in this fashion,” answered Snap.  “And, besides, if he came here he would most likely be back now to see us.  No; this is the work of some stranger.”

“Maybe somebody from the Felps camp,” put in Giant, who had come up.

“That is possible,” said Snap.

“Let us see just what is missing,” said Shep.

They made a careful examination of all the things in the camp.  One lad had lost some underwear, another a pair of socks and a handkerchief and another a blanket.  Some provisions were gone, also a knife and fork, a cup, a frying-pan and half a dozen other things.

“Whoever was here evidently fitted himself to camp out,” observed Shep.  “I wish we could catch him!  I’d give him a piece of my mind.”