ns;
is that it, Steve?" queried Jack.

"It started me to looking around the spot," explained the other, "and
right away I saw the tracks of shoes--long shoes in the bargain, making
prints entirely different from anything we'd be likely to do. So says I
to myself, 'hello, Mister Man! I see you've been snooping around here
while we slept like the babes in the woods!' And so I came in to let you
fellows know about it. Want to see for yourselves, don't you? Then just
follow me."

They were soon examining the imprints. Just as Steve had said, there
could be no question as to the tracks having been made by some one other
than themselves. More than this, Jack could easily tell that they were
comparatively fresh.

"Let's follow them a little bit, and see what he was up to," he
suggested, which they accordingly set out to do, and found that while
the stranger did not actually enter the camp he did scout around it as
though desirous of seeing all he could.

"Wanted to know if Toby here spoke the truth when he said we were only a
bunch of fun-loving boys off on a vacation camping trip, didn't he,
Jack?" Steve asked, as if to confirm his own suspicions.

"Yes, he actually went completely around our camp, and in several places
seems to have approached pretty close," Jack went on to say, after they
had given up following the trail of the unknown man. "I think he must
have even heard some of us breathing inside the tent, and perhaps he
could count our number that way. But after all no great harm has been
done; only it goes to show we must keep our eyes open all the time we're
up here."

Toby heaved a great sigh.

"Whew! but it's getting some exciting, let me tell you, fellows. All the
while you're gone today I'll be nervous and think I heard footsteps
every time a gray squirrel whisks around a tree, or barks at me so sassy
like."

"Do you think this could be the same man who talked with Toby yesterday,
Jack?" Steve inquired.

"We can guess that it must have been," came the answer. "He wasn't
wholly satisfied with things, and dropped over in the night to learn if
this camp was actually run by boys. You see how wise the lady was, after
all, for if this party had run upon three _men_ in camp up here,
the chances are he'd be more apt to suspect their motives."

Steve shook his head as though ready to give it up. He never in all his
life had been so thoroughly mystified as just then. Toby, too, had an
anxious expression on hi