a halt close to the base
of a series of big rocks.

"I think we have missed it," said Snap, gazing around sharply.

"Missed it?" queried Giant. "What do you mean?"

"I mean we are not getting around the end of the lake at all."

"Do you think we are lost?"

At this the leader of the gun club shrugged his shoulders.

"You can put it that way if you wish, Giant."

"Oh, dear! I don't want to be lost!"

"Oh, we are not lost!" put in Whopper, briskly. "Come on."

"Do you want to climb over the rocks, Whopper?" asked Snap.

"No; let us go around them."

They attempted to do this, only to find themselves caught in a tangle
of undergrowth from which it was almost impossible to extricate
themselves. Then they came out at a point that was all but surrounded
by big rocks. It was now so dark they could scarcely see in any
direction.

"We may as well face the truth, fellows," said Snap. "We are lost."

"Lost!" came from both of the others.

"Yes, lost. And how we are to get out of the mess I don't know."

"Well, this is the worst yet!" came with a groan from Whopper. "We
start out to find Shep and end up by getting lost. If he is back
in camp he will have the laugh on us."

"This means good-by to the deer," said Giant. "But I don't care---if
only we get back to camp in safety."

"Let us climb a tree and look around," suggested Snap.

This advice was followed, but try their best they could not locate
their camp, although they saw Firefly Lake at a distance to the
south of them. The sun was setting behind a bank of clouds and
soon it grew positively black beneath the trees.

It must be admitted that the young hunters felt in anything but
a cheerful frame of mind. Giant suggested that there might be
more rattlesnakes at hand, and this made all nervous and on constant
guard against reptiles.

"Are we going to stay here all night?" demanded Whopper, after a
spell of silence.

"I don't see what else we can do," answered Snap.

"If we do have to stay, I am going to have a fire," put in Giant. "And
somebody ought to remain on guard."

"To be sure, Giant. All of us can take turns at watching and at
keeping the fire going."

Wood was handy, and finding something of a cleared space, they built
a fire and over this cooked the single squirrel Giant had brought
down shortly after leaving the regular camp. It was not much of a
meal, but it was all they had, and with it they had to be content.

Even wi