" And he smacked his lips. He loved partridge meat very
much.

They seemed to be getting deeper and deeper into the woods. The
trees around them were so dense that it was almost impossible to see
the direction of the sun. Several times they came to a halt to
look around.

"What do you make of it?" asked Snap.

"I don't like it," answered the doctor's son emphatically. "First
thing we know we'll be lost."

"Just what I was thinking."

"We were to follow the sun," came from Whopper.

"Can you see it?"

"Once in a while, and not very clearly at that."

"Tell you what we might do," suggested Shep. "Climb a big tree and
take a look around."

This was considered a wise suggestion, and they started to carry it
out. A tree was selected, and the others gave Snap a boost to the
lower branches. Then up went the youth to the top, slowly but surely.

"Well, what do you see?" demanded the doctor's son, after having
given his chum a chance to look around.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" echoed Whopper blankly.

"Nothing but woods and mountains, and a brook or two. I don't see a
thing that looks like a camp anywhere."

"Oh, it must be ahead of us," insisted the doctor's son.

"All right---you come up and locate it," grumbled Snap.

Shep came up and so did Whopper, and all three of the lads gazed
longingly, first in one direction and then in another. Nothing but
what Snap had mentioned greeted their eyes.

"Boys, we are lost!" cried Whopper.

"Oh, no, we're not lost---we are here," answered Snap. "The camp
is lost."

"It's the same thing---so far as we are concerned."

"I think that is Firefly Lake," said Shep, pointing to a hazy spot
in the distance. "And if it is, then our camp may lay around on
the upper side of this mountain."

"That may be true."

"Shall we try to walk it?"

"Might as well, Shep. We don't want to stay here all night."

"And we don't want to walk two or three miles out of our way," put
in Whopper. "I'm getting mighty tired---not having had a good rest
last night."

"We are having one adventure on top of the other," said the doctor's
son with a grim smile. "Well, is it go forward or stay here?"

Nobody wanted to stand still, and so they descended to the ground
and moved off in the new direction settled upon. All were fagged
out, so progress was slow. They encountered some squirrels and
Snap brought down two and stowed them away with his partridge.

"There's a cat!" cried