CHAPTER XIX

A GATHERING OF YOUNG HUNTERS.

Having the two sleds with them, they did not tramp through the woods, but took to the lake, where the wind had swept the ice comparatively free from snow.

Despite what had happened, all were in a light-hearted humor, and Joe began to whistle merrily, and soon Harry and Fred joined in.

“Well, we can’t complain of lack of adventures,” remarked Harry, as they trudged along, Joel Runnell in advance, looking for some signs of possible game.

“I should say not,” returned Fred. “We’re getting our full share and more.”

“Wonder if any of those other fellows are going to join us?” put in Joe. “Bart Mason said he would be sure to come, and Link Darrow said the same.”

“Oh, lots of fellows think they can get away, but at the last minute their parents say no, and that’s the end of it.”

They were moving around a small arm of the island when they saw Joel Runnell come to a halt.

“Guess he has sighted game,” said Harry. “Wait; we don’t want to spoil a shot.”

“I’ll go up and see what’s doing,” said Joe, and hurried forward, with his gun ready for use, should there be more game ahead than the old hunter could handle.

“Gun Club ahoy!” suddenly rang through the clear air. “Hullo, you fellows? Where are you bound?”

And then, around the bend, appeared the forms of three youths, dragging a long, low sled behind them. The trio were dressed for hunting and each carried a shotgun or a rifle. The sled was piled high with traps and provisions.

“Whoop! here are some of the other fellows now!” burst out Fred, and rushed forward. “Hurrah!” he yelled.

“Hurrah!” came back instantly.

“Link Darrow, Bart Mason and—yes, it’s Teddy Dugan,” came from Harry. “What can Teddy be doing with those other chaps?” he went on, for he had not expected to see the Irish boy anywhere in that vicinity.

“How are you making it?” asked Link Darrow, as he came closer. He was a youth of Joe’s size and age.

“First rate,” answered Joe. “When did you leave Lakeport?”

“Yesterday. We expected to locate you a couple of hours ago, but Teddy Dugan stopped us.”

“Sure an’ I have news for you,” put in Teddy Dugan. “I’ve been up the lake, a-visitin’ me Uncle Michael, and who do you think I saw?”

“Those tramps,” cried Joe, quickly. “Oh, Teddy, did you really see them?”

“I saw three tramps, and by the look of ’em I think—yes, I’m sure—they are the same that took your watch and chain. I knew you were over to this island, so I told me uncle I’d come over and tell you.”

“And you ran into Link and Bart?”

“I did—but not until I had lost me way, and I reckon they had lost theirs too. Ain’t that so, Bart?”

“Well, I’ll admit we were a little off the trail,” answered Bart Mason, who was very large for his years and correspondingly lazy. “But we weren’t lost like the babes in the woods.”

“I don’t see how a big fellow like you could get lost,” put in Fred, slyly. His head hardly came up to Bart’s shoulder.

“Tell me about those tramps,” said Joe, impatiently. “Where are they now?”

“The last I saw of them they were walkin’ on the lake.”

“The lake!” came from Joe, Harry, and Fred simultaneously.

“Yes. That’s why I came over to tell you.”

“Do you think they came over to this island?” asked Harry.

“Either that or they crossed to the other shore.”

“Tell me exactly how they looked,” went on Joe. “We don’t want to make any mistake.”

Teddy Dugan had had a good look at all three of the tramps and he described their features and dress in detail.

“The very same rascals, beyond a doubt,” said Harry. “I wish you had had them locked up, Teddy.”

“Sure and I couldn’t do it when I was all alone, Harry. I watched them walk to the lake and out on the ice—heading this way,—and then I ran back to my uncle’s house and told him. But the snow was too deep to go to town, an’ so me uncle did nothing.”

After this Teddy Dugan told the particulars of the meeting between himself and the three good-for-nothings.

“I heard through me uncle that a house had been robbed near where he lives,” added Teddy. “More than likely they were the thieves.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,” said Fred. “A rascal who will take a watch and chain will take more.”

Link Darrow and Bart Mason had been bound for the lodge, thinking that the camp of the club was located there. Both readily consented to turn and move toward Needle Rock.

“You must have had a fearful time with old Skeetles,” said Link, as the whole party moved off. “Our family know him well, and my father doesn’t want anything to do with him.”

“What a pity Dan Marcy can’t act like other fellows do,” was Bart’s comment. “He might be a real nice fellow if he wasn’t so overbearing.”

“It’s in the breed,” came from Joel Runnell. “His father and his grandfather were that way before him. Why, I can remember his grandfather well. He was a boss on the railroad, and he hounded the Italian workmen so much that one night several of them almost stoned him to death.”

“In that case, Dan is scarcely to blame for his disposition,” said Harry.

“I think he is. He ought to work to overcome it,” replied Fred. “But he just makes himself as ugly as he can. Why, even the little boys and girls get out of his way when they see him coming.”

The three boys who had been on the island since the beginning of the outing were anxious to hear all the news from home and this was told to them by Bart and Link, who had also brought along several letters.

“I don’t know what we can do about those tramps,” said Joe, after thinking the matter over for some time.

“Let us get settled down in our new place first,” returned Joel Runnell. “After that we can go on a still hunt for them.”

At this all of the boys looked at Teddy Dugan, who blushed through his many freckles.

“Teddy, what had you in mind to do?” questioned Joe.

“I dunno,” was the slow answer. “I ain’t got nothing to do for the next few days. Father said I could go and visit me uncle, or go huntin’, just as I pleased. I know what I’d like to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, I reckon I hadn’t better say. You’ve got your club all made up, an’—an’——”

“Would you like to stay with us?” asked Harry, quickly. There was something in Teddy’s manner which was very attractive to him.

“Yes, I would,” was the blunt response. “But, but——”

“Let’s take Teddy along,” said Joe.

“All right,” came from the others.

“But I ain’t a member of the club?”

“That don’t matter, Teddy. You’re a member of the ball team, and that’s enough.”

“Especially after that home run you made in the game with the Silver Stars,” added Link, who was a great ball player himself.

“Then you really want me along?” And the Irish lad’s face lit up in a broad grin.

“Yes,—but you have got to do your full share of camp work,” said Joe.

“I’ll do more than my share.” Teddy did a few steps of a double shuffle on the ice. “Say, this just suits me to death! Come on!” And he began to pull on one of the sled ropes with great vigor.

The breeze on the lake was so keen that nobody cared to stay out in it longer than necessary. Where the snow was loose the wind often caught it up and whirled it into their faces.

“Only a little further to go,” said old Runnell at last, and in a few minutes they turned in and came to a halt not far from where there was a cliff twenty to twenty-five feet in height. Against the rocks rested two immense pine trees which the gales of the previous winter had partly uprooted.

“Here is where we can fix up a real good shelter,” said old Runnell. “We can trim off the under limbs of the trees and use them for the sides. Then we can roll up some big snow balls and put ’em right on top of the pine branches, leaving a hole for a doorway. Back in the cliff is a split in the rocks, so it will do for a chimney.”

“Then we can have a fire inside instead of outside,” said Harry. “That will be jolly. I was afraid we’d have to put up with a cold sleeping place.”

“I’m cold now,” came from Link Darrow. “Guess I’ll have to do a dance to get warm.”

“You can get warm chopping some firewood,” said Joel Runnell. “Don’t waste any of your strength. There is plenty of work to do before we can settle down to enjoy ourselves.”