."

Nugget was only too willing to lend his aid, and the tent was speedily
rolled up, and deposited in the cockpit of the Pioneer, where it
belonged.

"Uncle Dan may be here any minute," said the boy. "You-uns had better
wait."

"Say, you'd like to see us licked, wouldn't you?" inquired Randy. "I'm
sorry we can't oblige you by staying. Here is a dollar for your uncle to
square up the damage to the calf. Just say to him that it was a mistake,
and that he needn't come after us, because we are going straight through
to Harrisburg."

The lad pocketed the money, and after looking on for a little while in
silence he went away to hunt the refractory cow.

The boys worked with feverish energy--not forgetting to keep a sharp eye
on the woods--and in scarcely more time than it takes to tell everything
was in the canoes.

"It goes hard to leave here," said Randy, "but it can't be helped. It
would be a nice ending to the canoe trip if we got locked up for
trespassing. I hope the dollar will satisfy that man."

"What are we going to do about Ned and Clay?" asked Nugget.

"I'll attend to that," replied Randy, as he stepped into the Water
Sprite and tied its stern to the bow of the Pioneer.

The other two canoes were arranged in the same way, and then the boys
paddled quickly out of the stream.

They first crossed to the other side of the creek, where Randy wrote a
short explanatory note for Ned and Clay, instructing them to follow the
creek down about three or four miles.

"It won't be safe for us to stop short of that distance," he remarked as
he pinned the big white document to a tree at the base of the hill.

"The boys can't miss this when they come down to the water. They ought
to be here in about two hours."

Having arranged their means of communication, Randy climbed back into
the canoe, and led the way down stream. Progress was necessarily
tedious, since the current was sluggish, and each had an additional
canoe in tow. They felt more at ease when they had passed round the
first bend, and after paddling for two or three miles--as nearly as
could be judged--they began to search for a good camping place.

They did not find one that suited their requirements for some time, but
finally, while drifting along the base of a precipitous cliff, they came
to a good sized cleft or hollow. It was half a dozen yards wide. It
sloped gradually upward, narrowing as it went, until it terminated in a
ravine which seemed to con