"Giant must be right," said Snap. "And look here, will you?"
As he spoke Snap pulled from the dead embers of the fire a half-burned bit of wood. It was part of a signboard.
"Humph! the signboard that was missing below here," muttered Shep. "Ham and his crowd were too lazy to cut firewood, so they used the board. If that isn't the height of laziness and meanness!"
"It's against the law to destroy signboards," said Whopper. "That crowd ought to be brought to book for this."
"If you said anything they'd say we did it," responded Snap. "Ham would do anything to keep out of trouble and get us into a muss."
"That camp fire was built after the storm," said the doctor's son.
"That proves the Spink crowd can't be far from here."
"If they are near us we want to be on our guard," observed Giant. "They'd like no better fun than to steal our things. They haven't forgotten what happened on the lakes this summer and last winter."
The boy hunters were bound for a spot mentioned to them by Dr. Reed and Jed Sanborn. It was a small "dent" in the mountain side, where were located a fine spring of cool water with a rocky brook beyond. Some distance farther was a cut in the mountain with a tiny lake, surrounded by cedars and called Cedar Lake.
It was nightfall when they reached the "dent" and the spring. All were thirsty, and the sparkling water was very refreshing.
"Father says that some day he'll organize a company to bottle this water," said Shep. "He is sure it will command a large sale in the big cities—-it is so clear and pure."