They were soon ready for their journey. When they came to the first portage Pud was the first man out of the boat. He had his dunnage bag on his back and the canoe on his shoulders, and waited for Jack to show the way. Off they plodded, and in about an hour they came down again to another fine lake. The guides at once began to make camp, while the others looked to their sleeping bags and cleared up for the night. By ten o'clock they were settled for the day, and off they went in their canoes to try their luck on the new lake. They found it just as full of fish as the lake they had just left. When they returned at one o'clock they found that they really had more fish than they could use.
"We'll have to stop fishing for the rest of the day," said Mr. Waterman. "There's no use catching trout merely to throw them back again."
"Let's climb some mountain this afternoon and have a good swim afterwards," suggested Mr. Anderson.
After lunch the three boys, with their two mentors, left the camp and made for the opposite shore of the lake, as the mountain rose up sharply there. They scrambled up the sides of the mountain and had gotten nearly to the top when they were startled to see a party of men above them. When they came out on the top they found the strangers there apparently waiting for them. Mr. Waterman greeted them pleasantly, but they gave only gruff answers. They inquired at first very politely what they were doing there. Mr. Anderson gave them civil answers, but they evidently did not think that his answers were full enough, so they threw off all disguise, and the leader said,
"We are Government officials, sent up here to see if there are any more stations such as Field had down near your camp. It looks rather suspicious that you should discover this man Field so opportunely. We already know that food you bought in Escoumains has been found in his cabin."
"Very true," said Mr. Waterman. "As I explained to Mr. MacPherson, that was the reason why we went out looking for the thief. It was on that quest that we found Field and discovered his business. We notified the Government immediately, which proves that we were honest in the matter."
"Perhaps it does and perhaps it doesn't," was the reply.
"What you do not know is that we had ferreted out Field's accomplices, and I have no doubt that we would have gotten him in a short time. It is possible that he knew this and made an arrangement with you to keep him supplied with grub."
"Nothing of the kind," said Mr. Waterman. "You evidently have not read the evidence I left with Mr. MacPherson. There I told him all about the scene at the hut, and if you have read that you must know that we knew nothing of Field or his work. All we know is that he stole some of our grub and showed remarkable skill in doing so. All through, he was about as clever as one could imagine."
"I'll grant that he was clever, and you seem clever yourself," was the reply.