There was still another point on which the boys fully agreed, and that was that they would not say a word to Uncle Hallet about it; but the latter heard of it, all the same, and it turned out that Tom was wide of the mark when he insisted that some one had played a joke upon himself and his companion.
The boys reached home just at supper-time, and found that Uncle Hallet had returned from Bellville with good news for them. He had seen Bob's father, and the latter, after declaring that it was one of the wildest things he had ever heard of, and wondering what foolish notion those two boys would get into their heads next, finally decided that since Tom had made up his mind to live in the woods during the winter, Bob might stay and keep him company.
"He desired me to tell you that he shall expect to hear a good account of you, both as student and game-warden," said Uncle Hallet, shaking his finger at Bob. "If you don't keep up with your class, or if you neglect your business and allow some pot-hunter to kill off all my English birds, so that there won't be any left for your father to shoot when I invite him up here, he will be sorry that he didn't keep you in school. What's the matter with you two anyway?" suddenly demanded Uncle Hallet, who had a faint suspicion that the boys were not as highly elated as they ought to have been. "This morning you were fairly carried away with this new idea of yours, and now you don't seem to say anything. Have you thought better of it already?"
The boys hastened to assure Uncle Hallet that they had not—that they were just as eager to assume the duties of game-wardens as they had ever been, and that that was the last night they expected to pass under his roof for eight long months.
It was all true, too; but each of them made a mental reservation. If the man in the gulf was a fugitive from justice, as Bob thought he was, he might prove to be a very unpleasant fellow to have around, and until he had been "neutralized," as Tom expressed it, they could not hope to enjoy themselves.
They did not want to enter upon their duties feeling that there was a portion of Mr. Hallet's preserves from which they were shut off by the presence of one who had no business there.
"He suspects something," whispered Tom, as he and his friend arose from the supper-table and made their way to their rooms. "Now I'll just tell you what's a fact. I am going wherever I please in my uncle's woods, and any one who tries to turn me back will get himself into trouble."
"I am with you," was Bob's reply. "If that howling dervish has settled down there for the winter, how shall we get rid of him?"
Tom couldn't answer that question, so he said that perhaps they had better sleep on it, and that was what they decided to do.