“Yes, you evidently know these men,” added Jack.
“Wall, I guess I do know ’em, seein’ ez how they are all neighbors o’ mine.”
“Say, Josh, do yeou know these ’ere fellers?” asked the leader on horseback.
“They air the fellers thet give me all thet venison yesterday—the boys ez shot them three deer in one lick.”
“They claim we are chicken thieves,” said Harry. “They believe we belong to this camp, while I told them our camping-place is away off on the shore of Rock Island Lake.”
“They told me their camp wuz over tew the lake,” said Josh Higginson. “An’ they air such good shots thet it an’t likely they stole the chickens at all.”
“We have a squirrel and a partridge with us,” went on Harry. “And here are a number of rabbits, too.”
“And we get all the chicken meat we want when we are home,” finished Boxy. “We didn’t come out here for that at all, and I wouldn’t touch either chicken or turkey just now, unless I was forced to. We are out solely to hunt and live on game.”
“I believe the boys speak the truth,” said Josh Higginson. “They look like an honest set of fellows.”
One after another the faces of the horsemen fell. They whispered for a while among themselves, and finally the leader turned to Harry.