“We can take turns,” was the answer, and this caused a laugh.
To get such large game back to the camp at Needle Rock was not easy, and it took them until long after nightfall to cover the distance, and then all were thoroughly exhausted. The moose was placed in a safe place, and they retired without taking the trouble to cook a regular supper.
CHAPTER XXX
THE FIND—END OF THE OUTING
Noon of the next day found Joe walking along the lake shore some distance below the camp. On the outing the day before he had lost a glove and he was trying to locate it in the snow.
“I’m pretty sure I dropped it somewhere along here,” he told himself. “I know I had it on just before we came to those bushes yonder.”
He was still some distance from the bushes when he espied a dark object hanging from one of the branches, among some dried leaves. Thinking it was either the lost glove or the remains of an old bird’s nest, he went over to investigate. The next instant he set up a shout of joy:
“The pocketbook! The pocketbook at last!”
He was right; the pocketbook was there, hanging down from the long string which had been wrapped around it—a dingy, brown affair, well worn at all of the corners and containing two pockets.
With a heart that thumped wildly in his breast, Joe took hold of the pocketbook to examine it. Scarcely had he done so when he gave a groan and his hopes fell as rapidly as they had risen.
The pocketbook was empty. It contained absolutely nothing at all.