tion was considered a good one, and the whole crowd
went back to the camp. While some changed their wet clothes for
dry, others prepared a meal and this all took time in eating. Then
all hands went down to the raft and embarked for the other side of
the lake.

CHAPTER XXIV

OUT ON A SAND BAR

The stars had gone under a cloud and out on the lake it was so dark
that Snap and his chums could not see twenty feet in any direction.

"We are going to have our own troubles finding our camp," he said,
after about a quarter of the distance across Lake Narsac had been
covered.

"It's as black as a stack of cats," murmured Whopper. "Has anybody
got a lantern?"

Nobody had, and even matches were at a premium. The boys rowed and
paddled on a short distance further and then came to a halt in a bunch.

"I must confess I am more or less turned around already," said
the doctor's son. "Is our shore over there?" and he pointed with
his hand.

"I think so," answered Giant.

"I think it is yonder," answered Snap, and pointed at right angles
to the direction Shep had mentioned.

"And I think it is about between the two," finished Whopper.

"Let us take the course Whopper thinks is right," said Snap. "We
can't be so very far wrong anyway."

Anxious to get back to camp and get some rest, they pulled with
vigor. They kept this up for fully ten minutes and then the forward
boat slid up on a bar of sand, followed quickly by the second boat
and the canoe.

"Here, this won't do!" cried Shep.

"Are we near shore?" questioned Whopper. "I can't see any land."

Neither could the others, and all were more or less worried. They
had struck the sand bar with such force that they had been carried
well up on it when they tried to shove the boats off they, found
the task too much for them. The canoe, however, came away with
little difficulty.

"Shep, you paddle around and see if you can locate the shore,"
suggested Snap, and the doctor's son sent the canoe first in one
direction and then another. He was not afraid to go out of sight,
since he could easily hear their voices in the stillness of the
night.

"I don't see any shore," he announced, after a search of a quarter
of an hour. "We must be stuck somewhere in the middle of the
lake."

"That can't be---the middle is far too deep for any sand bars,"
answered Whopper.

"Well, you can hunt around if you want to," said the doctor's son,
rather shortly. The paddli