"Oh! no, not quite so bad as that," laughed Phil, himself gaining an upright position; and trying the best he could to throw out the old shell, so that he might have the pump-gun in serviceable shape again.
Tony seemed to be the least disturbed of the lot. Familiarity with alarms had considerable to do with it, no doubt. He had started to open the flap of the canvas cover nearest him, so that he could thrust his head out.
"What happened, Phil?" asked Larry, as he sat up on the floor of the boat.
"Why, I just saved our bacon; or to be plainer, our venison," laughed the other.
"Oh! was something running away with it, then?" demanded Larry, beginning to get upon his knees as the first step toward rising.
"Something was making way with it, which is about the same thing," replied Phil.
"W-was it a bobcat?" continued Larry.
"Listen!"
As Phil said this one word they could hear a fierce growling, accompanied by a strange scurrying sound. It came from the shore close to the boat.
"Will it come in here after us, Phil?" asked the more timid member of the firm, as he tried to find the hatchet which he remembered seeing somewhere close by at the time he lay down on his cot.