“Mr. George Burton may think he has a smart dog,” reflected Hoke Butler, as he picked his way up the small stream, “and he isn’t any slouch, but there are some things he can’t do, and one of them is to follow a fellow’s trail through the water. Funny that when Burton shut us off from the lake he forgot this . Since he didn’t mention it, I have the right to use it.  
“Now,” continued the logical young man, “while I keep to the water I don’t leave any ; I’m like the which the hound can’t track through the woods, and when Zip comes to the point where I stepped into the water, he’ll be up against it—hello!”
 
He had come to a place where the brook expanded into a pool and more than fifty feet across. Opposite to where he halted, the current tumbled over a series of , and then spread out into the calm expanse, whose was the small stream which Hoke had to this point. The water lost a good deal of its , so that the bottom could be traced only a little way from where he stood.
 
“That’s !” exclaimed the , after brief reflection; “I’ll walk across the pond—it can’t be deep—and step on the other side, Zip won’t come within a mile of the spot.”
 
He began , cautiously feeling each step before advancing. Since the depth was unknown he could not be too careful, though confident that the little lake was shallow in every part.
 
Half across the icy water reached to his knees. He pressed slowly on, thrusting out a foot and making sure of a firm support.
 
“It ought now to grow more shallow,” he reflected as he felt his way forward; “when I get to shore I may as well go back to the and wait till Zip returns disgusted. I guess Burton can take a joke when it’s on him, and he’ll laugh with the rest of us——”
 
At that instant, Hoke stepped into an unseen hole and dropped out of sight. The sudden clasp of the icy element made him , and when his head popped up, he and struck out for land. It was that the only spot in the pond where the water was over his head was barely two yards across, and beyond it the depth was so slight that while swimming, one of Hoke’s feet struck bottom. He straightened up, and strode to land, shivering in his dripping garments.
 
“Who’d have thought that? I didn’t dream of anything of the kind—where did you come from?”
 
This angry question was addressed to Zip, who thrust his against Hoke’s knee, looked up and wagged his tail.
 
“I’d like to know what led you here, when you hadn’t any scent to follow.”
 
“It was his nose,” remarked young Burton some time later, when Hoke having exchanged his wet clothing told his story to the laughing group on the .
 
“I left no scent when I stepped into the brook,” replied Hoke.
 
“Therefore he knew you were in the brook; and set out to find where you had left it.”
 
“He had to follow both sides in turn.”
 
“Not at all; from one bank he could detect, without the least difficulty, the scent on the other side. He failed to take it up, and therefore knew you had still kept to the stream. If you had not been in sight when he reached the pond, he would have circled around it and nothing could have prevented his discovering your trail within the next few minutes. But he saw you feeling your way across, and the direction in which your face was turned told him where you would come out,—so he around to welcome you when you reached land.”
 
“Why didn’t he jump in to help me out of the hole?”
 
“The bloodhound is content to leave that kind of work to his brother the Newfoundland, and a few others. You are ready to admit, Hoke, that there are bigger fools than Zip.”
 
“Yes,—and here sits one of them. Mike doesn’t seem to care to match with him.”
 
“There’s where you’re mistook, as 241Bridget Lanigan said whin she picked up a red hot thinking it was a ribbon she had dropped from her hair. Come, boys.”
 
Mike sprang from his seat and addressed Alvin and Chester. There was much chaffing as the three passed into the bungalow and out at the rear. Zip had taken his place beside his master’s chair, where he sat with his long tongue hanging far out, his mouth wide open, and his big ears below his massive . He manifested no further interest in what was going on around him, though he must have understood everything.
 
The agreement with Mike was that the dog should remain on the piazza with his master and the other until a full hour should have passed. Then he was to be allowed to smell of a pair of shoes which the left behind him. These belonged to Alvin Landon, who had brought some extra footgear. They had been worn by Mike for several days when he replaced them with his own, which he had on at the time he left the bungalow. Thus far everything was plain and above board.
 
“I don’t know what Mike has up his sleeve,” remarked young Burton; “no doubt it is something ingenious, for he and his two chums have been whispering and a good deal together, but Zip will defeat him as sure as the sun is shining in the sky. You have noticed that my dog does very little baying,—or rather, Isaac and Hoke have noticed it.”
 
“But he gets there all the same,” laughed Rothstein; “I should like to know what plan Mike ............