Brick accepted this as final. He was anxious to start for the lake, however, and so were Hamp and Jerry.
But just when breakfast was over the party returned with the dead deer and the wildcat. This caused a delay. As soon as possible the deer were skinned and cut up, and the meat divided. The boys were given all they could carry.
Between eight and nine o’clock they were ready to start. They parted with the friendly loggers, and tramped briskly across the clearing.
“I say, youngsters,” Thomson yelled after them, “if you should run acrost that sneakin’ Sparwick, jest show a bold front, an’ you’ll have him. He’s a coward at heart, an’ hates a gun barrel worse than pisen.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
HAMP’S PERIL.
Neither Brick nor his companions expected to overtake Kyle Sgarwick. They knew that what Thomson said was true. The thief was many hours ahead, and possessed an intricate knowledge of the wilderness.
“I’ll have to let the watch go,” said Brick, in a resigned tone. “I hated to lose it, because it was a present from my father.”