“Have you seen anything of Asa and Bige Carter?”
“Who are they?” asked Alvin in turn, although he had heard the names before.
“I thought everybody knowed Asa and Bige; they’re twin brothers, and two of the darndest chaps that ever lived.”
This description, so far as it went, was not enlightening. Chester said:
“Those must have been the two men that called on Uncle Elk this morning and went off with him in their canoe. So far as we could see they look exactly alike.”
“That’s them,” replied Jake with a nod of his head. “Did the three come this way in their canoe?”
“They seemed to be heading for this place.”
“That settles it; they was Asa and Bige. I expected them to meet me here,” and Jake peered around in the wood, but without seeing anything of his friends.
“What might ye maan by spaking of them as two of the darndest chaps that ever lived?” asked Mike, who, as did his companions, hoped they had struck a lead that might yield them something worth while.
“Why, they’re just like a couple of Irishmen.”