CHAPTER XXV
AT THE CAMP ONCE AGAIN
The announcement Snap made cast a gloom over all the boys. Each felt that their leader spoke the truth.
"Well, as I don't want to go home, I vote we go after the thief," said
Shep, who was the first to speak.
Fortunately not all of their stores had been taken—they had been too plentiful to pile on one sled—so they had enough left with which to get a substantial supper. But all of the boys did not wait for the meal.
"If we are going to follow that thief up we ought to do it right away," said Snap. "The more time that is wasted the less will be our chance of catching him. Shep, if you say so, we can go after him and leave Giant and Whopper to look after what is left here."
"Why can't I go along?" asked Giant.
"Two ought to stay here," said Snap. "And I've got another plan," he went on. "How much money have we got on hand?"
The amount was counted and found to be nearly five dollars.
"That's enough," said the leader. "If we can't find the thief, we can slip over to Riverside and buy the things we actually need. I wouldn't go to Fairview, because that would cause too much talk."
Snap and Shep put some provisions in their game bags, readjusted their snowshoes, and soon set off.
"Have you any idea when you will be back?" called Whopper after them.
"No—maybe not till to-morrow," was the answer.
In the deep snow it was easy to follow the direction the thief with the sled had taken, and they soon became convinced that but one person had done the deed.
Left to themselves, Whopper and Giant did what little they could to restore order to the camp. They saw that the thief must have remained in the shelter one or two days—probably during the blizzard. On leaving he had attempted to break down one wall of the place and ruin the chimney, but had not succeeded.
"They'll last as long as we want to stay," said Giant. "But how mean it was to try such things!"
In coming to the shelter Whopper had twisted his ankle and this hurt him not a little, and he was perfectly willing to rest the member all he could. Giant prepared supper and they ate it leisurely, in the meanwhile talking over the outlook from every point of view.
Morning found the two young hunters stirring early. There was little, however, to do, and they took their time over breakfast. Giant had found where a bag of beans had been spilled on the ground and he picked them up with care one by one.
"I think I'll make some bean soup for a change," he said. "I'll throw in some meat to give it a flavor."
"That rascal—whoever he was—took all the flour, otherwise we might make some pancakes," grumbled Whopper.
"I might try my hand at fishing through the ice again," said Giant.
"Baked fish will go fine for a change."
"Hadn't I better stay here, Giant? Somebody ought to mind the camp until Snap and Shep get back, and my ankle is quite swollen."
"Yes, stay by all means, and if you want me, yell or fire your gun."
So it was arranged, and after dinner Giant sallied forth, with the axe, which had not been confiscated, and his fishing lines and such bait as he could scrape together.
As Giant had found his former fishing place a good one he went to the same spot again. The snow was deep and he had to sweep it away with a spruce branch he cut for that purpose. Then he chopped a round hole in the ice as before, and sat down on some snow and the tree branch to wait for a bite.
Fishing proved slow, and it was a good quarter of an hour before he got a bite and then the fish slipped the hook just as he was hauling the catch to the surface. But he kept on and in an hour had a catch of three, all of fair size.
After that, however, try his best, he could not get another bite. Then he determined to go further down the lake, where there was another cove.
"There ought to be fish at the bottom of that cove," he told himself.
"And if there are, I am bound to have some."
Finding a spot that suited his fancy, he again swept off the snow and began to cut a hole in the ice. This proved quite a task, and by the time he had finished he was pretty well winded. He baited up and sat down on a bank of snow he had swept together.
Just then some noise reached his ears, and he looked around and listened. But the noise was not repeated.
"What could that have been?" he mused. "Some bird?"
He strained his ears, but the stillness of the forest lay all around the lake. Of a sudden Giant began to feel lonely, and he gave a little shiver. Then he braced up.
"Pshaw, I'm getting as nervous as a cat," he murmured. "And all on account of nothing. I'd better go to fishing and forget it."
He dropped in his line, properly baited, and waited for a bite. He was lucky, for soon up came a nice maskalonge. Then, a few minutes later, came a rock bass—something for which he had not been looking. He grew interested, and forgot all about the noise he had heard, until the cracking of some bushes caught his ears.
"There's that noise again," he muttered. "What in the world can it be?"
For the first time since leaving the shelter Giant wished he had brought along his shotgun. What if some game should suddenly appear?
"If a deer should come along and I couldn't shoot it, it would make me sick," he told himself. "And game is always sure to come along when you haven't a gun."
Giant had now seven fish, four of good size. He decided to wait for just one more, then wind up and go back to the shelter. It was rather cold sitting at the fishing hole and his feet were beginning to feel very much like the ice under them.
He had baited up with care, and allowed the line to sink almost to the bottom of the lake, when a fresh noise startled him. This was another crackling sound. There followed a low, suppressed growl, and turning in the direction of the shore Giant was horrified to see a big, black bear come lumbering into view!
"A bear! I'll have to get out of here!" he ejaculated, and snatching up his fish and line and the axe he started on a run for the shelter.
The bear came out on the ice and toward the hole. Then it smelt the fish, and a moment later started on a clumsy run after the fleeing youth!