"Those fellows don't know what a joke is," said Shep. "This is past being funny."
"Wait—-Snap will make them toe the mark," answered the smaller youth. "He said he would do it before he left."
During the afternoon the two boys took the rowboat and also some lines and a drag-net and rowed over to the vicinity of Humpback Rock, where the tipping over had occurred.
"You can see how shallow the water is here," said Shep. "We ought to find at least some of our things."
"Here is where the boat went over," answered Giant, and gazing down into the water he added:
"And there is one of the guns!"
They hooked the weapon up without a great deal of trouble, and soon located another gun and then a game-bag. This encouraged them, and they kept at the task until sundown, finding all the outfit but one game-bag, which Shep declared of little value, as the strap was broken.
"This is better luck than I anticipated," said Giant. "Now we must clean the guns without delay."
The entire evening was spent in overhauling and oiling the guns, and in drying out the gamebags. They also dressed one of the deer, hanging up the meat as before. The Spink crowd had taken the smallest of the game and for this they were to pay regular market prices.
When Snap and the others got back they brought with them a whole boat-load of provisions and other things, and were followed by Jed Sanborn in his canoe. The hunter had agreed to take the deer to Fairview for them. He was joyful to think they had had such luck.