“What do you know about it, Bob?”  
“Know about what?”
 
“Why a whole night has passed and nothing has happened.”
 
Bob laughed.
 
“That is rather unusual for a fact.”
 
“Unusual, it’s . But how’s the leg?”
 
“Almost as good as new,” Bob declared after he had taken a few steps. “It’s a bit sore and still but I can travel on it I reckon if we don’t go too fast.”
 
“Well, hereafter you’d better take me along with you. One or the other of us always seem to get into trouble when we separate.”
 
“How’s the grub holding out?”
 
“We got enough for two or three days if we don’t eat too much.”
 
“Well, suppose you see if there are any in that . They’ll taste good for breakfast and help out on the supplies.”
 
was gone less than half an hour when he returned with enough fair sized fish for a meal.
 
“There were just eight more trout in that brook when you than there are now,” he laughed as he started to dress them.
 
Breakfast over they went, as Jack called it, into executive session of the committee of the whole to decide what was the next move to make.
 
“I still feel pretty sure that we are not very far from the scene of operations,” Bob insisted and Jack agreed that he was probably correct.
 
“Then you think we had better just keep on and hunt?”
 
Bob was about to reply in the affirmative when suddenly the sound of a rifle shot rang through the forest.
 
“Listen.”
 
“Remington 38,” Jack declared.
 
“And not very far away either.”
 
He had hardly spoken when two more shots came close together and from nearly the opposite direction.
 
“They’re on both sides of us whoever it is,” Jack said.
 
“Right, and the all important question is whether it’s someone hunting or were those shots signals.”
 
“It’s closed season for hunting,” Jack reminded him.
 
“I know, but I have an idea that that don’t bother the natives up here a whole lot. I guess they hunt about when they’ve a mind to law or no law.”
 
“Well, I guess we can’t afford to take a chance and find out. Our best bet is to keep out of sight all we can.”
 
“You said it.”
 
By this time they were ready to start. No more shots were heard as they struck off toward the west traveling slowly so as to favor Bob’s leg.
 
“Oh, by the way, Bob, did you find a boundary stone around here anywhere? I hunted nearly an hour for it yesterday and couldn’t find it.”
 
“Yes. There was one only about a dozen feet from where that trap was. I found it just before I stepped into it.”
 
“Then we’re on the track.”
 
“Jack, I’ve got another .”
 
“Hope it isn’t the same breed as the last one,” Jack laughed.
 
“No, I think this is an honest to goodness one.”
 
“All right then, spring it. What is it?”
 
“I think we’re going to strike something inside of a very few minutes.”
 
This time Bob’s hunch was fulfilled quickly for they had not gone ten feet further when they came to a trail running at right angles to the way they were going.
 
“Some hunch, I’ll say,” Jack’s tone was very .
 
“It worked pretty well, that’s a fact.”
 
“Do you mean to tell me that you didn’t see this trail before you had that hunch?”
 
“I sure didn’t. If you don’t believe it go back to where we were and see if you can.”
 
“Oh, you know that if you say you didn’t that settles it, and again I repeat, some hunch.”
 
“Well, it sounds better when you say it that way,” Bob laughed.
 
The trail which they had struck was one which had evidently been made recently. It was still very rough although there was abundant evidence to show that a vehicle of some kind had been driven over it.
 
“I believe we’ve struck it,” Bob declared as he looked first one way and then the other.
 
“Wouldn’t wonder. I don’t know what else anyone would make a trail way up here for.”
 
“Now which way’ll we go, north or south?”
 
“Or camp right here and let them come to us?”
 
“Too slow that last.”
 
“Thought you’d object. I vote we go north.”
 
“Vote’s unanimous. Come on.”
 
“This trail must start somewhere,” Bob grinned as they along slowly.
 
“How’s the leg?”
 
“Not bad, but I’ll have to favor it for a day or two I reckon.”
 
“When it gets tired say so and we’ll rest,” Jack urged anxious lest he injure it.
 
“I’ll sing out all right when I’m tired,” Bob assured him.
 
About fifteen minutes later they were again brought to a halt by another shot.
 
“That’s the 38 again,” Jack said.
 
“And there’s the answer,” Bob said in a low tone as two more shots rang out.
 
“That makes it look like a signal.”
 
“Nary doubt of it.”
 
“Those shots sounded to me about the same distance away as before,” Jack declared. “Now I sized it up before that one was to the east of us and the other to the west, and that seems to me to mean that they must be going about parallel to us and in the same direction. How does it strike you?”
 
“Right at home. Now why don’t they meet as soon as they can?”
 
“Evidently because they’re going to the same place by two routes.”
 
“Head of the class for you.”
 
“What next?”
 
“I think our best move will be to get out of the trail and follow it a little to one side. It’s getting too thickly settled here to keep much in the open.”
 
They had made about half a mile further without hearing any more shots and Bob was on the point of suggesting that they stop for a rest as his leg was giving him considerable trouble and he feared to tax it too heavily, when Jack, who was a few feet ahead, suddenly came to an stop.
 
“What did you hear?” Bob asked limping up.
 
“Nothing, but it looks to me as though we’re coming out of the woods.”
 
“Does look that way. Suppose you reconnoiter a bit while I rest this game leg.”
 
“Right.”
 
“But you be careful now, and don’t go far,” Bob cautioned.
 
“You know me,” Jack replied as he crept softly away.
 
“He’s a of a boy,” Bob thought as he watched him as long as he was in sight.
 
In less than fifteen minutes Jack was back and Bob knew from the expression on his face that he had something important to report.
 
“There’s an opening there,” he announced. “And, Bob, unless I’m terribly mistaken it’s been used as a landing field. There must be all of ten acres in it and it’s smooth enough. And there’s a cabin on the further side.”
 
“One of the disappearing kind?”
 
“I don’t think so. It’s much larger.”
 
“Didn’t see anybody did you?”
 
“Not a soul, but I only waited a minute.”
 
“Well, we’d better find a good place where we can watch without danger of being seen and we’d better do it quick too. Those fellows who have been doing the shooting are making for that cabin and we want to be cached before they get there.”
 
After a short search they succeeded in finding just the right kind of a place. A about three feet wide and eight feet long between two large rocks was closed at both ends by of bushes. Once within the , as Jack called it, they were invisible to any one unless he climbed on to one of the rocks and looked down. On the other hand, by slightly parting the bush at the end nearer the clearing, they had an uninterrupted view of the entire field.
 
“Couldn’t be better for our purpose,” Bob declared, as he stretched out at full length on the ground and peeped out.
 
“There comes Tiny,” he announced a moment later, as the giant emerged from the woods a little to the right of the cabin.
 
“Has he got a gun!”
 
“Yep, looks like a Winchester from here, but it’s too far away to be sure. Wish I had the glasses.”
 
“Well, keep your eyes peeled. The other guy ought to be along soon.”
 
“And there he is. It’s that little man—the white one—and he’s got a gun, too.”
 
“Then that settles who was doing the shooting,” Jack declared.
 
“Not a of doubt about it and Jack boy, I believe we’ve found the place at last. We must be two or three miles over into Canada and from here they can take the stuff over either by or by flying machine.”
 
“I guess you’re right, but I suppose we ought to get more evidence before we report to the captain and get him up here.”
 
“We’ll get it all right pretty soon unless I’m greatly mistaken. There’s Pierre, now.”
 
“I guess the whole gang’s there.”
 
“Probably, except the ones that run the airplane.”
 
“Suppose they’re waiting for the ship.”
 
“More than likely.”
 
The men in the cabin seemed to be expecting something of the sort, for every little while one or more of them would come out and take a long look around, scanning the sky.
 
“There’s a couple I never saw before. Take a peep,” Bob said a few minutes later drawing back his head and making room for Jack.
 
“One of them is the man who talked with me the day I was fishing at the lake, but I don’t know the other fellow,” he said as he drew his head back. “They’ve gone in now.”
 
“They’re waiting for an airship all right judging by the way they’re looking round.”
 
“And we’ll wait right here till it comes.” Jack’s voice bore a note.
 
“Guess we might as well eat a bite while we’re waiting,” Bob proposed.
 ............