“And some good cheese.  Say, boys, they must be living pretty well, eh?”

So the talk ran on, while the Ham Spink crowd ate whatever they desired.  As the meal progressed, they grew reckless and began to throw things around, so that more than a quarter of the stores were literally wasted.

After the meal was over the boys set to work to hide what remained of the stores, in the brushwood back of the camp.  They carried everything out of the cabin, even to the blankets and extra clothing.  Some clothing was thrown high into a tree and some shoes were placed under a flat rock.

It was not until four in the afternoon that Ham Spink and his cronies began to think of getting back to their own camp.  They were all in rare good humor, thinking they had accomplished something wonderfully smart.

“We must watch for the return of Snap Dodge and his chums,” said Ham.

“To be sure,” put in Dick Bush.  “Won’t their eyes open when they see this!  I just guess!”

“Finest trick I ever played in my life, don’t you know,” drawled one of the dudish boys.

The fire was kicked out and they took themselves to their boat.  A strong wind was coming up, ruffling the surface of Firefly Lake.

“Wish we didn’t have to row in the wind,” said Ham Spink.

“We can take our time,” said another.

They were a lazy, idle set, and wrangled over the question of who should row the boat.  At last it was decided that all should take a turn, and they started.

The wind was increasing every minute, and no sooner were they out on the lake than the full blast caused the waves to dash over the side.

“Hi!   I don’t like this!” cried one of the boys, in alarm.   “The
boat may go over-----”

“Well, we have got to get back to our camp,” said Ham, in dismay.  He did not like the roughness himself.

To keep the water from coming into the boat they had to row into the wind, and this took them some distance away from their camp.  Even as it was, every boy got more or less wet, which put them in an ill humor.

“I didn’t calculate on this when I started out,” grumbled one, as he surveyed his fancy outing costume.  “I’ll have to have these pressed again before long,” and he sighed.

There was a point of land around which the wind was sweeping at a furious pace, and to avoid this spot, they decided to tie up their boat in a safe cove and walk to their camp through the woods.

“It’s blowing up another storm,” said one of the boys.  “I think it will rain to-night, and rain hard.”

“Won’t those other fellows enjoy it—–­if they can’t find their things!”

“The things will get wet.”

“Humph! what do we care?” grumbled Ham Spink.

“Maybe they’ll make us pay for anything that is spoiled.”

“I shan’t pay a cent!”

“Nor I!” came from several.