The man shrugged his shoulders. “That was a pretty bad blaze they had down there at his shack. It would have been worse, only thank goodness the woods were damp after the rain; otherwise our outfit would have had a nice crown fire to fight today. Collins was patrolling down by the lake, and had to call a general alarm. By the time he got there, the whole clearing was burned over, and all that was left of the trapper’s cabin was a heap of cinders. The men are still on guard down there—several acres were burned over.”
“And Mink—what happened to him?”
“Nobody knows. If he wasn’t burned to death, you can bet he’s cleared out of this country for good. You’ll never be bothered with him again.”
Dirk laughed feebly. “And to think that all day we were running away from a danger that didn’t exist! We thought he was trailing us.”
The warden looked at him curiously. “You must be pretty done in.”
“We got lost, and couldn’t find our way back to the lake.” The boy looked about him. “Where is this place, anyway, and how is it that you’re here, Ugly?”
“This is the Lookout, where the fire tower is,” explained the other boy, alive with excitement. “If you get up on top of the hill here, you can see for a million miles all over these mountains. The lake is right below. You must have come around from the other side. Mr. Carrigan looked at the canoe we found turned over. When he saw that all the stuff was gone, he said he thought somebody had captured you. Then he found where the bushes were tramped down, over on Flint Island. We couldn’t do much last night in the dark, but he got the chief warden to give us some grub and a tent. Then, since early this morning, all of us have been scoutin’ around these woods, lookin’ for signs of you. They ought to be comin’ in pretty soon. Boy, won’t they be mad when I tell ’em I was the one to see you first!”
“We must tell my father,” said Dirk. “Can anybody get word?”
“Don’t worry,” answered the warden. “Soon as I get back up the tower, I’ll telephone to Yanceyville, and they can wire from there. He’ll be glad to hear. There was a chance that you two might have been caught in the fire. Ever since Riccio was caught, we’ve had orders to hunt for you.”
“Who’s Riccio?”