"Say, what did you do then, Kiddie?" Rube asked.
"Went an' opened the trap an' came away with two fine tail feathers and a nasty scratch on the arm," Kiddie answered, turning from the canoe to search for a suitable pitch for the camp.
He found a good place on a stretch of sloping ground between two high rocks at the edge of the lake, and in a very little time the teepee was erected, a fire well kindled, and the camp in order.
Their store of food had been almost exhausted on the island, where they had not set their traps and had caught only fish. They still had abundance of flour, however, as well as tea, sugar, tinned milk, and rice; and Kiddie was confident in the prospect of being able soon to add meat to his larder.
On that same evening of their arrival in Lone Wolf Cañon, he went out with his gun and climbed the mountain side in search of game. But he returned to camp without having fired a shot, and with only a capful of thimbleberries as spoil.
"Didn't you see anything?" Rube questioned.
"Oh, yes," said Kiddie, "I saw plenty—a big-horn antelope that was too far away for a shot, a herd of black-tail deer, still farther away, a family of rattlesnakes, a skunk, and a racoon. And you'll be interested to know that there's a pair of white-tail eagles nestin' on one of the crags up the cañon. I got a good view of them from the opposite side."
"I'm goin' ter have a look at those eagles," decided Rube. "I'll go to-morrow evenin' the same time as when you were there, an' when they're likely to be at home."
On the following evening his expedition was interfered with by the fact that earlier in the day Kiddie had stalked and killed a black-tail deer and needed Rube's help in carrying the carcass into camp and cutting it up for venison.
But Rube was not to be denied a sight of the eagles, even if he could not hope to capture an eaglet and take it home with him as a pet.