“Humph! I’m not afraid,” said Fleet.
“Nor am I,” Tom replied. “But I don’t see any use in risking our necks, and maybe turning our trip into a funeral, when we can be happy by being careful.”
“Well, that’s a matter we can decide when we come to it,” said Chot.
In the early afternoon the boys pulled in to the shore and ate lunch in a shady nook. Many good things had been placed in the canoes by Mrs. Creighton, and the boys felt especially grateful for them now that they were leaving the Creighton farm behind, and would soon have only the memory of the things they had eaten there.
“Apple butter!” cried Fleet, as he unscrewed the lid to a glass jar, and took a generous spoonful of the contents. “Yum, yum! I tell you, fellows, this is what I call living high.”
The others were too busy eating to reply, and Fleet munched his bread and apple butter in silence.
Lunch over, they pushed out into lake again. They were in the narrower portion now, which stretched ahead for some twenty miles. The breeze was from the south and very light, and the boys did not hesitate to paddle out into the lake where, with the bows still headed northward, they skimmed along at a rapid pace. The sun soon went behind a cloud, and as evening approached and the air grew cooler, the boys increased their pace.
They were well up the lake by dark, with the prospects of being in Lake Champlain by noon of the following day.
Camp was made, as usual, under a clump of trees, the tent was stretched, and a small fire was kindled for coffee. The fire was allowed to burn until bed time, because the moon was not up and the darkness was intense. It was nine o’clock when they sought their blankets, feeling tired from the exertions of the day. Ten minutes later they were all asleep.
Shortly after midnight, they were awakened by what seemed an unearthly noise. Chot was the first to realize that the silence of the camp had been invaded by some sort of a man or beast, and sitting up he rubbed his eyes and stared about him. The moon was just showing signs of rising, and a pale glow suffused the lake and shore, but in the deep shadows of the trees little could be seen, as yet, and as Chot continued to gaze about him, the trees and bushes began to assume fantastic shapes.