"I know it," replied Joe, hastily. "You want father and Dan to behave themselves, and let me alone. So do I; and if they won't do it, I'll make them."
Joe caught up the small bundle of clothing that had been made ready for him while he was setting the table, shouldered his long, single-barreled gun, kissed his mother good-by, and hurried away.
He did not follow directly after his father and Dan, but took a short cut through the woods, and, at the end of an hour, had his first look at the snug little cabin that was to be his home during the winter—that is, if his brother or some other desperate poacher did not get mad at him and burn it down.
Mr. Warren's double team stood in front of the open door, and that gentleman and one of his hired men were busy transferring baskets and armfuls of things from the wagon to the interior of the cabin.
"Well, Joe, you're on hand bright and early," was the way in which Mr. Warren greeted his young game-warden, "and you are in light marching order, too," he added, glancing at the boy's bundle, and wondering at the size of it. "Mr. Hallet had to take one of his teams to move Tom and Bob up to their house."
"Tom and Bob?" repeated Joe.
"Yes. Oh, you didn't know that Hallet had hired them for wardens, did you? Well, he has; so you will have good neighbors, almost within reach of you."
"Why, what in the world possessed them—"
"What possesses them to do a thousand and one things that nobody else would ever think of," exclaimed, Mr. Warren, who knew what Joe was going to say. "It looks to me like a foolish notion, and I'll venture to say, that they will be glad enough to go home and stay there, after they have stood one snow-storm up here in the mountains. They came well prepared, though. They had two trunks, and they were full to the top. But I like your way the best. When you go into the woods, go light, even if you know that you are going to spend the most of your time in a permanent camp. Come in, and see if we have forgotten anything."
Joe followed Mr. Warren into the cabin, and listened attentively while he described the contents of the different bundles and baskets that were scattered about the floor.