"I—-I——-"
"Hand it over or we'll search you."
"I've got three hundred dollars," said Lush Barrock, lamely. "I spent about fifty dollars."
The money was handed over to Snap, and he placed it and the papers in an inner pocket of his jacket. Then the robber was ordered to sit at the bow of the boat and not move, and a pistol he carried was taken from him.
It was not long after this that it began to rain. At first the downfall was not great, but presently there was a perfect deluge and then the boy hunters knew that the danger from the forest fire was over. Looking up the lake they saw Andrew Felps and his party in their launch, unharmed. The camp of the lumber dealer, however, had been burned out clean and clear, along with all of the provisions.
"That's what he gets for taking our cabin from us," was Giant's comment.
Not wishing to meet the lumber dealer again, now that they had made Lush Barrock a prisoner, Snap directed his chums to row out of the lake and on to the river. The boys pulled a good stroke and, despite the load on board the craft, made fair progress.
"This fire will worry the folks at home," said Shep. "I am glad we made up our minds to break camp."
"Yes," answered Whopper. "Everything happened for the best, after all."
The boat was still some miles from Fairview when they saw another craft approaching. It contained Mr. Dodge and Jed Sanborn.