"Betcha, I would. Say Maurice," he broke out excitedly, "there's a light comin' through the trees. See it? It's movin'. Must be somebody with a lantern."
"I see it," Maurice replied in guarded tones. "Bill, that light's comin' this way, sure as shootin'."
"Looks like it. Wonder who it kin be? Maybe somebody lookin' fer us."
The two boys crouched down beside a great beech. The light, which had not been a great distance from them when first sighted, was rapidly approaching. Billy grasped his chum's arm. "Look," he whispered, "there's two of 'em."
"I see 'em," his friend whispered back. "Gosh! looks as though they're goin' to tramp right onto us."
However, the night-roamers of the forest did not walk into them. Instead they came very close to the boys and halted. The man who carried the lantern set it down on the ground and spoke in gruff tobes to his companion, a short, heavy-set man with a fringe of black beard on his face.
"I tell you, Jack, we'll hide the stuff there. It'll be safe as a church."
"I say no, Tom," the other returned, surlily. "It won't be safe there. Somebody'll be sure to find it."
The other man turned on him angrily. "Who'll find it?" he retorted. "Don't be a fool, Jack. You couldn't pull anybody to that place with a loggin' chain. It's the safest spot in the world to hide the stuff, I tell ye. Besides, the boat orter be in in a few days, and we kin slip the stuff to Cap. Jacques without the boss ever knowin' how far we've exceeded his orders."
"All right," gruffly assented his companion, "if you're so cock sure, it suits me all right. Come on; let's get out of this cussed woods. Remember we've got some work before us tonight."