disreputable condition.

"Where did you get it?" he asked, pointing to the bruised face and torn
garments. "You've gone and spoiled a perfectly good Boy Scout suit."

"And the bear we're going to have for supper," Will chuckled, "came very
near spoiling a perfectly good Boy Scout."

"Did the bear hand him that?" asked George.

"He certainly did!" replied Sandy. "And he put me out for the count,
too!"

"Then I'll take great joy in eating him!" declared George.

While George fried the bear steak over the gasoline "plate," Sandy told
the story of the fishing trip, while Will listened with a grin on his
face, now and then interrupting with what Sandy declared to be an
entirely irrelevant remark.

The big acetylene lamp which, had come in with the boys' baggage had not
been set up, so the cabin was now lighted only by flashlights. This made
cooking difficult, and George protested against it, so Will went to work
setting up the tank and getting the big lamp into use.

"That's better!" exclaimed George, as the great light flashed out. "Now,
while I'm cooking the supper, you might look about and see what you can
discover in the way of clues. There is an old theory, you know, that no
person can enter a room and leave it without their leaving behind some
trace of having been there!"

"That's a part of the Sherlock Holmes business that I entirely
overlooked!" laughed Will. "Come to think of it, the fellow must have
left some clue here. We'll see if we can find it!"

While Sandy and George worked industriously over the gasoline "plate,"
frying bear meat and fish, and making toast and coffee, Will began a
thorough search of the cabin floor. He moved about for some moments on
his hands and knees, studying the rough boards through a microscope.

When he came to the bunk he examined that in the same careful and
painstaking way. Sandy and George pretended to be very much amused at
his alleged posing as an investigator, but the boy paid no attention to
their smiles and sarcastic remarks.

All through the meal Will kept his own counsel as to what he had
discovered, if anything. His chums quizzed him unmercifully, but he gave
out no information regarding discoveries until after the meal was
completed and they sat, wrapped in their heavy coats, before the
stripped table, now bearing only empty dishes.

"Now tell us about it!" demanded Sandy. "How tall was this man who
carried Bert, away?"

"Five feet six," replied Will.