To their bunks finally went all of them, a weary crowd but a decidedly happy one, and when the alarm rang out its summons in the morning, before the break of day, eight partly refreshed boys sat up to rub their eyes and wish that all alarm clocks were buried deep in Davy Jones’ locker.
“Why this unseemly hour, when graveyards yawn, and so forth?” sleepily said Lanky, as he stretched himself and drawled out a very poor quotation of Shakespeare.
“That’s not a careless alarm clock,” laughed Frank. “That fellow is on the job.”
“Buy one, says I, that isn’t so honest about its work,” muttered Jack Eastwick. “Alarm clocks aren’t any good, anyhow.”
But the boys tumbled out of their bunks, dressed, made up the dying fire in the living room, and then prepared their breakfast, eating heartily.
Their skates were strapped on when they reached the edge of the lake, their rifles thrown across their backs, Paul’s camera hung from the other shoulder, as eight young fellows left the camp for a roam around the lake to see what might be seen.
Straight across to the opposite side Frank led them, having decided they would try going through the woods on the north side of the lake, hoping thus to run into something that might satisfy the longing of all of them for more adventure.
The sun was well up when they touched the opposite side, removed their skates, threw them across their shoulders by straps, and started through the woods, led by Frank. For a while nothing was heard, there was no sign of life. Then in the far distance they heard the sound of an axe, steady, persistent, and a moment later came to them the booming sound of a great tree falling to the ground.
Somewhere in that direction was a logging camp. Frank led that way. A mile passed under their feet as they trudged ahead, the snow a little less than knee-deep, making the going hard.
Straight ahead of them they saw several men at work in the woods, using axes on the pines and hemlocks. The boys headed for the place where the nearest men were chopping. Two were wielding a saw, after one had used the axe on the opposite side.