“This is a fine state of affairs,” grumbled Gif. “I don’t know whether we’ll have a good time or not with those fellows around.”
“Oh, well, they’ll be on the other side of the lake,” answered Fred. “How much of a distance between the two places?”
“The lake is about half a mile wide where our camp is located, and midway between the two places there are a number of small islands which my father used to call the Cat and Kittens.”
Mose Mumbleton had listened with interest to what all the boys had had to say. Now he shook hands cordially with Gif, who speedily introduced the others. In the meantime Jeff had calmly proceeded to make himself at home on the piazza of the general store, nodding peacefully as he sat with his back against one of the posts.
“I thought you might know that Flanders boy,” said the old storekeeper. “He goes to a military academy, too.”
“Yes, we know the whole bunch; but we didn’t know they were coming up here.”
“The folks around here don’t like Mr. Flanders any too well,” continued the storekeeper. “You see, Flanders bought the old Micwic factory on Flat Rock Creek, and they say he is going to put it in operation again. The bungalow colony is up in arms against such a move. They don’t want any factory around here, nor do they want any factory hands locating along the lake.”
“Where is that factory located?” questioned Fred.
“It’s just below where those boys have their camp—about halfway between the camp and this place,” answered the storekeeper.
“See here,” said Gif, motioning Jack and Spouter to one side. “Now that we know that crowd is across the lake from our bungalow, don’t you think it would be better if we went up to the camp without further delay? I want to be certain that they haven’t visited the place and upset things. I wouldn’t put it past them to do it. We can come down here to-morrow and get our supplies. Of course, we could take up a few things now, just enough for breakfast and maybe lunch.”