ode message?" Will asked.

"Yes, the untranslated code message."

"Glory be!" shouted George.

Frank looked at the boy in wonder for a moment, and then turned to Will
with a question in his eyes.

"It's a long story," Will said in answer to the look, "and we'd better
wait until we get to the cabin before entering upon it."

"Is Bert all right?" asked Frank.

"He got a little bump on the head somewhere," answered George, "but
he'll come out of that all right, in time. I wasn't rejoicing because
your chum got a poke on the belfry," George went on, whimsically, "I was
shouting because the man who stole the code message didn't accomplish
anything."

Frank, who was now standing by the fire collecting such bits of wardrobe
as had been removed from his handbag, and also collecting the remains of
the solitary lunch of which he had partaken that morning, again turned
to Will with an interrogation point in each eye.

"Was the code message stolen?" he asked.

"It certainly was!" Will answered. "At least a large envelope with my
name written across the front was found, with the end torn open, by your
friend's side as he lay on the floor."

"That's the work of the man who followed us in!" declared Frank.

"We'll get this story all out of you pretty soon," laughed George.

"Suppose we go to the cabin before we uncork the entire yarn," suggested
Frank. "To tell you the truth, boys, I didn't have half enough
breakfast, and I'm about starved to death!"

"All right," Will replied. "There's nothing to keep us here that I know
of. Did you see any one around your camp in the night?" he continued.
"What kind of a night did you pass?"

"A rotten, bad night!" was the answer. "I traveled a long way before I
came to any wood suitable for building a campfire, and after I got one
built it seemed to send out a bugle call to every wild animal within
forty miles of the place. I guess I heard bears, and wolves, and wild
dogs, and bull moose, and every other form, of wild life known to
Alaska, at some time during the night!"

"And all the time," grinned George, "you were not more than a mile or so
from our cabin. It's a wonder you didn't see our light."

"Well, I didn't," Frank replied. "But that's past and gone," he went on,
in a moment, "and what I'm thinking about at the present time is this:
Did the man who stole the code message from Bert force the boy to
translate it for him? Tell me something more about the attack on the
boy.