"I just bet he's thinking of my sister Violet," was what passed through the mind of the boy; but for once he was wrong.
They finally arrived at a point not a quarter of a mile from camp. Frank turned to see if Jerry was coming along, for he had not heard a sound from him.
"How about that venison you insisted on carrying? I hope you didn't leave it in that miserable pit, now, for I was calculating on having a feast for supper?" he asked, seeing that Jerry still plodded along close by.
"I've got it on my back all right, so don't worry, boys. And honest, now, come to think of it, I really believe the bundle saved me from a worse shock than I got. I landed on it, if you please. Don't know how it beat me down, but it served as a fine old buffer. I look on that blessed deer as my best friend."
"Listen!" exclaimed Will just then.
All of them could hear what seemed to be shouts ahead. They certainly came from the direction of the home camp.
"Now what do you suppose has happened there this time? Can't we ever take a little saunter through the woods without the camp being made the theater for all sorts of strange dramas—wildcats, lunatics, and now what?" exclaimed Jerry.
"I think it would be just as well for us to sprint along and find out.
That Toby seems fated to get into the queerest scrapes ever heard of.
Here goes!" with which Frank began to run.
The others kept close at his heels, and as the outcries increased they even put on additional speed, bursting out of the timber to see as strange a spectacle as ever greeted the eyes of woodsmen returning to their camp.