"Rats! It was voices I heard," declared Steve.
"Then it must be Max and Owen coming back to camp from the river,"
Bandy-legs asserted.
"Just as like as not," Steve admitted.
"But what if the savage beast drops down on the shoulders of our chums?" said the other in tones that were full of horror.
"C-c-come on, b-b-boys!" panted Toby.
"Where to?" demanded Steve. "I'm comfortable just as I stand. What's eating you now, Toby Jucklin?"
"D-d-didn't you see, we've j-j-just got to warn our c-c-chums, and s-s-stand that t-t-terrible beast off? H-h-hurry, boys!"
"Yes, I see you hurrying," said Steve, with a laugh; "why, you'd fall all over yourself, Toby, and perhaps try to swallow our only hatchet in the bargain. Besides, there's no need of our sallying forth to stand guard over Max and Owen, because here they come right now."
"Sure they are," declared Bandy-legs, "and mebbe we'll be able to find out whether it was a wildcat Toby saw, a panther, or one of those awful Injun devils they say come down here from the Canada woods once in a long time."
"All right, you c'n laugh all you l-like," the boy who stammered said, obstinately; "but wait and s-s-see what Max says."