"Hi—hi!" yelled Hackett. "Come out and show yourself—come up and toast yourself. You must be nearly frozen out there!"
Nothing but silence followed the echo of Hackett's voice.
"This certainly is funny," said Bob.
"That's what we all said before, my boy," observed Dick. "It must be those campers on the other side, as Hackett says."
"Well, they have cleared out, and we might as well get back to the fire," said Nat.
"Must be a lot of jokers around these parts," ventured Tom Clifton.
"Now they have had their fun, why don't they come out, and show themselves?" added Sam Randall.
There was no answer to this—and for obvious reasons.
So they tramped toward the fire, which flashed between the trees like a beacon, discussing the singular affair, with the rather unpleasant feeling that any minute a snowball might land upon the back of somebody's neck.
Logs were piled on the blaze, and the unfortunate coffee-pot refilled.