Phil told them
he was camping there for a short time, preparatory to a fishing
expedition.

Supper over, Phil walked over to one of the tables, where he found a
week-old Bangor paper, and a Canadian French paper. Carefully avoiding
taking up the French paper and thus betray his knowledge of the
language, he took the _Commercial_ and read steadily for an hour or
more. During this time the place was steadily filling. Men came in, got
their supper, and took seats at the many tables scattered about. Later
others came in, evidently villagers who made a sort of a clubhouse of
the place. A half a dozen card games were in progress, and at three of
the tables couples were playing checkers. By this time Phil had read all
the news and was beginning on the advertisements in order to have some
ostensible purpose in remaining where he knew nobody. Another half hour
passed, and then he decided to get up and watch one of the checker games
that was in progress near him.

Both of the players were fairly expert, and he watched for some time
with great interest. During the second game, one of the players made a
bad move and let his opponent sweep off three pieces and land in the
king row to boot. As he made the move, Phil could not repress a little
gasp. The lucky opponent looked up at Phil and grinned, and Phil smiled
back. The game was lost for the first man, and his friend proceeded to
rub it in a little.

"I declare, Hoke, you're gettin' worse every day. You ought to see that
I would clean the board if you made that move. I declare, I bet this
young fellow here can beat you."

"Bet a doughnut he can't," said the man called Hoke.

"Take ye up on that, an' if you lose I'll make you walk home and get
one. They never have 'em here at night. What say, young feller, will ye
give this feller a trimming for me?"

"Why, yes, I would like to play a game," said Phil. He wanted to play
for two reasons. First, it would give him a legitimate excuse for
loitering there a little longer without attracting attention, and
secondly, he really enjoyed a good game of checkers.

Phil disposed of his man very easily, for he was a remarkably good
player. At the conclusion of the game, the defeated man demanded that
his friend try a game with Phil, and accordingly changed places with
him. Here was a harder opponent, and Phil was devoting his entire
attention to giving him a run for the honors of the game, when the door
opened and a couple of men slouch