plain to
be seen that the spirit of warfare had not as yet been diminished in
his bosom.

"Oh! well, have it out among yourselves, boys. As long as you leave us
alone we won't bother you in the least, I give you my word," said Frank.

"Come on, you fellows," cried Will. "I'm anxious to get away from here.
That Pet gave me the cold creeps when he came so near ruining my films.
Ugh! me for the comforts of our own camp."

No one wanted to linger. Even Jerry was glad to turn his back on the old
cabin and stalk away, with his gun over his arm.

"Say," called Will, over his shoulder, a few minutes later, as they were
pushing through the woods and following the back trail.

"Well, what is it?" asked Jerry.

"We forgot something, boys,'' continued the other.

"What's that?" demanded Frank, coming to a stand.

"Why, when we were about it we ought to have demanded that they return
Bluff's dandy, repeating shotgun," said Will.

Thereupon Frank broke out into a laugh and turned upon Jerry.

"Hear that, will you?" he remarked, as if tickled.

"Oh, rats! there's that blessed old gun bobbing up again. Will I ever
hear the last of that machine?" exclaimed Jerry, shrugging his shoulders.

"Not till the ghost is laid, I suppose, Jerry," remarked Frank.

Jerry walked along at his side, still grumbling as if he had a difficult
matter to solve and could hardly make up his mind.

Thus they came to the spot where the late catastrophe had taken place.
The hole gaped at them in the trail.

"Say, this is a dangerous thing to leave uncovered. Some one else might
fall in, perhaps one of that lumberman's kids if they happened to be
playing hereabouts," remarked Frank, as they paused to look down once
more into the dark depths.

"I wouldn't want my worst enemy to slip over that edge. My! but it was a
queer sensation I had when falling. Let's cover the hole up again,"
remarked Jerry.

"If we can find the planks it would be a good idea," echoed Will.

They started a search immediately. When Andy and his followers had
removed this cover, to substitute the frail one of slender sticks,
quilted with dead leaves and a scattering of soil to deceive the eye,
they could not have taken the boards far away.

"I'm dead sure they ain't in the hole," observed Jerry, as they hunted.

"Lucky for you they were not, as you might have broken a leg in striking
hard planks instead of soft soil," remarked Frank.

"Here they are, boys!" sang out Wi