They followed the Indian a few feet into the forest, and there they found the three men surrounded by four sturdy Yankees. Bob quickly noted that one of the prisoners carried one arm in a sling, made from a large red handkerchief.
“So it wasn’t you, Jacques,” he said, turning to the leader, who was standing with dejected mien a little apart from the other two.
Jacques made no reply, but gave the boys a look of fierce hatred, to which they paid little heed.
“Come on, Jack,” Bob cried, turning to his brother, “let’s see if we can save enough of the food for breakfast.”
“Make it snappy,” Jack replied, as he followed Bob, who had started on a run toward the cabin.
As they had hoped, the part of the cabin containing the food closet was not as yet on fire, so far as the walls were concerned, and after a hurried struggle, they succeeded in tearing it out and saving all it contained.
“There,” Bob panted as they placed it on the ground beyond the reach of the flames. “I reckon we’ll have enough grub to last us till we get back to civilization.”
It did not take them long to prepare a hearty meal and in less than an hour they were ready to take the back trail. They found the money where Stebbins had said he had buried it and the latter breathed a deep sigh of relief as he saw it restored to the son of the man who owned it.
“That sure is a big relief off my mind,” he declared as he handed the bag to Rex.
A little later they were back again on the banks of the Allagash where they found their canoe together with two others which Kernertok and his companions had brought up with them. The trip down the river was uneventful and they arrived at the little town of St. Francis shortly after noon, highly elated with the successful ending of their adventure.