d after for a year, remember that, fellows,"
remarked Frank seriously.

"You can just wager that I make it a point to let the pater know my
sentiments. He's the best dad going, and I mean to make him proud of me
some day. But tell us more about it, Frank. Where is Martin Mabie to
meet us, and what does he tell us to fetch along?"

"I'm not going to say another word, Jerry, until we get to the
clubhouse, when every one of you can have a chance to read his letter,"
remarked Frank as he prepared to cast off and throw his sails to the
breeze again.

"A week, did you say? Oh! what a long time to wait!" groaned Bluff.

"Still, there are lots of things to be done. I think it may be necessary
for one of us to run down to the city to lay in some things in the way
of ammunition, and a few articles of clothing for mountain wear."

"Then we'll appoint you as a committee of one to see to such traps,
Frank," called Jerry as the other shot away with the wind, his canoe
gliding over the little wavelets like a phantom craft.

Frank smiled. It was certainly nice to know that his chums felt such
sincere confidence in him at all times. There was nothing he would not
do to give them pleasure.

So the three cedar boats were soon heading for the clubhouse, and while
they are thus employed it might be well for us to understand just who
these chums were, and what they had been doing in the past to make them
such firm friends.

Frank was from Maine, but his father, a banker, had come to Centerville
a few years back; and among all the boys attending the Academy Frank had
soon picked out as his especial friends these three, Will Milton, Jerry
Wallingford and Bluff Masters.

After the Rod, Gun and Camera Club had been formed they had taken their
first outing, using their motorcycles to reach the woods beyond the head
of the lake. What befell them on this occasion has been told in the
first volume of this series, called "The Outdoor Chums; or, The First
Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club."

Later on, a storm having done considerable damage at the school, they
were given an unexpected fall vacation, and the chums decided to spend
it on Wildcat Island, situated at the foot of the lake. There were
several strange things connected with this island, such as a mysterious
wild man who had been seen there; and besides, it was shunned because of
the fierce bobcats that had possession. How our boys camped on this
island, and what wonderful adven