"He may be lazy, but he'll hump himself now," declared Shep.
"And to think he'd do such a thing as this, afar what we did for him," said Giant. "He can't have any sense of gratitude."
On they went until they entered the rocky passage between the two lakes. Here they had to walk through several ridges of snow and saw that the tramp had done the same.
Out on Lake Cameron the ice was tolerably free from snow, so it was not so easy to follow the trail. But they watched the ice closely, and kept their eyes open for the tiny scratches made by the skate runners. At one point, in a snow drift, they saw where the tramp had taken a tumble and rolled over.
"Served him right," grumbled Snap. "I wish he had taken a dozen falls."
They were nearing the end of the lake when they swept around a curve of the shore. At once, Snap, who was in the lead, set up a shout:
"There he is!"
"And skating for all he is worth!" added Shep.
"Hi, you! stop!" yelled Giant. "Stop, you rascal!"
At first Kiddy Leech did not hear, but presently, as they drew closer, he turned in a startled way. Then he tried to skate harder than ever.