There, neatly piled on shelves or stretched out on boards were the trapper's furs, exactly as he had arranged them before.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE NEAR-BANDITS
Yardsley glanced from one to another with a helpless expression, then stared at the bundles of furs as if doubting that he saw aright, while a variety of exclamations came from the astonished boys.
"Never was so beat in all my life," murmured the trapper, scratching his head. "Honest, cap'n! Ter think of goin' off on a chase like that, an' then findin' the hull shootin' match when we gits back."
Piper surveyed the speaker with a peculiar expression.
"And these are the furs and skins you claimed to have lost, Yardsley," he said, with strong emphasis.
"The identical ones, jist as they was afore."
"And how do you account for their being back on the shelves again?"