Shep suddenly, and ran forward. Then of
a sudden he stopped and smiled, while Whopper and Snap roared.

"Better give that cat a wide berth," suggested Snap, "unless you
want to put a whole perfumery shop to shame." And they did give
the animal a wide berth, for it was a skunk, and one "ready for
business," as Snap afterward expressed it.

By nightfall they were still deep in the woods. All were now
exhausted, and coming to a fallen tree Snap dropped to rest and
so did his chums.

"Boys, we have missed it," said the doctor's son seriously. "I
must confess I haven't the least idea where our camp is!"

"And that means we'll have to stay out in these woods all night,"
returned Whopper.

"More than likely."

CHAPTER XXII

THE SPINK CROWD AGAIN

The prospect was not a pleasant one for the three boy hunters. It
was not that they were afraid over the fact that they were lost in
the woods on the mountain side. But they knew that Giant and Tommy
would be greatly worried over their absence, and it was possible,
yes, probable, that the two lads might have trouble with Ham Spink
and his cronies.

"Ham will be as mad as a hornet if he had much trouble finding
his boat," said Snap, in talking the situation over. "And the
first thing he'll think of will be to get square."

"Well, if we can't get back we can't get back, and that is all
there is to it," answered the doctor's son philosophically. "We've
got to make the best of it."

"And then that lion-----" added Whopper. But to this the others
merely shrugged their shoulders.

They found a spot that seemed as good as any, and collecting some
dry sticks built a camp fire and made themselves a supper. They
were footsore and weary and glad to rest. Inside of an hour after
eating all of the lads fell asleep, and each slept soundly until
morning.

Snap was the first to awaken, and, letting the others rest, he
replenished the camp fire and got breakfast ready. There was a
sameness about their food that was not very appetizing, but this
could not be helped.

"When I get back I'm going to live a whole day on pancakes and beans
and bacon," said Whopper. "No more rabbits for me, or partridge,
either."

"That's the one drawback to camping out," returned the doctor's son.
"One does get awfully tired of eating game."

It was again a question of how to proceed, and once more they
mounted a tree to take observations. They now saw two columns
of smoke ari