“Yes. There is the town of Beldane at the lower end. There are also a number of bungalows at the upper end of the lake and one or two bungalows on the opposite shore. But taking it generally, the place is rather a wild one.”
“That suits me,” said Fred. “The wilder the better.”
“I wonder if we’ll get a chance at one of those bears,” mused Jack.
“We’d better take some guns along,” said Fred.
“Oh, yes, we’ll have to do that!” answered Gif. “My father said he would send us a list of just what things we ought to take along and what supplies we ought to get when we reach Rocky Run. There is an old storekeeper up there named Mumbleton, Mose Mumbleton. He has done many favors for my father and for the members of the fishing club generally, and my father said he would rather have us buy our supplies there than ship them from Beldane or Boston. It would give Mumbleton a chance to make a little money, and we might find his friendship worth something to us while we were up there.”
After that the boys looked over the photographs again and continued to talk about Big Bear Lake and the good times they expected to have there until the bell rang for the evening parade.
Although it was still early in June the night proved an unusually warm one, and after having prepared himself for the examination in Latin on the next day Jack found it almost impossible to get to sleep. He tumbled and tossed on the bed for the best part of an hour and finally arose, to sit by the open window for a while.
He had been resting there for perhaps five minutes gazing out dreamily into the moonlight, when he heard the put-put of a motor-boat on the river. Then somewhat to his surprise he saw a motor-boat turn in to the Colby Hall dock. Several figures sprang ashore and hurried into the boathouse belonging to the military academy.
“Hello! what does that mean? That can’t be one of our motor-boats,” murmured the young major to himself. “That looks mighty queer to me.”
He hesitated for a moment and then aroused his cousins.