Will assumed a mock threatening appearance, holding the big spoon up as though it were a baton, for they were washing up the supper things at the time.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to, boys, seeing that I couldn't expect to keep the secret much longer. Listen, then, and you shall hear. Have any of you ever hunted through these mountains to any extent?" asked Frank.
"I've been up here once or twice, but it's mostly new to me," said Jerry.
"Well, I studied a chart of the place, which, by the way, is in my ditty bag at this minute. Please hand it over to me, Bluff. Now, here you are."
He opened it up, and the others eagerly bent over, all dish-washing operations being temporarily suspended in the common interest.
"Here's the road we came by, and about this spot is where our present camp is located. Just two miles beyond lies Lake Surprise, which they tell me is a beautiful little body of water," went on Frank, pointing with his lead pencil on the map.
"Yes, I've heard about it, too. They say it springs upon you as you turn a bend of the old logging road, and no one ever fails to gasp with surprise at the beautiful sight. Hence the name. Well, go on, Frank," observed Will.
"Three days from now we will be encamped on the shore of that same lake, if all goes well, and by that night there will be an arrival that must astonish you. No use trying to guess, for you couldn't in a year. It will be Adolphus, with the team, and what do you think he will be toting up there?"
"More grub," answered Bluff promptly.
A shake of the head in the negative followed.