arations for the various duties to which
they had been assigned. Paul kept his finger on the pulse of everything
that took place.

He sent one squad along the shore of the lake to try the fishing.
Another was engaged in forming a rude raft so that they could have
something on which to paddle around from time to time. Still another
group followed Paul and Wallace to hunt for signs of the raccoons they
had heard during the preceding night.

Each boy of the bunch was expected to jot down in his note-book the
various interesting things they came across as they tramped. Paul gave
a few hints; but he wanted them to think it out for themselves.

The most observing would make mention of dozens of things that might
never attract the eye of the novice in woodcraft. He would state the
species of trees he noticed on either hand; the formation of the rocks,
the result perhaps of a former hurricane that leveled many old trees,
and the direction which it must have passed along over this country; he
would find a multitude of things to mention in the sap-sucker that
tapped the dead limb of a tree; the wise crow that cawed at them from a
distance; the flashing bluejay that kept just ahead of them; the red
squirrel and the little chipmunks that scurried over the ground, to
watch with bright eyes from the shelter of some tree, or hummock of
up-tilted stones.

There was absolutely no limit to the list of interesting subjects that
an observing lad could find to fill pages upon pages in his memorandum
book. After he had returned home again how pleasant it would be to read
anew these notes, and realize that he could not be termed blind when he
passed along the trail.

And then the tracks of the little woods animals, how interesting it was
to hunt for them close to the border of the water, where they could be
plainly seen in the soft mud.

At first one seemed pretty much like another to the greenhorns; but
either Paul or Wallace, who had studied these things before, pointed out
the difference; and after that lesson the other fellows could easily
tell the tracks of a raccoon from those of a mink or a 'possum, for they
found them all.

After that Paul took pains to explain just how differently the imprint
of a dog's or a cat's foot looked when compared with those of the wild
woods folks. These two were so much alike that Bobolink remarked upon
the fact.

"How can you tell them apart, Paul?" he asked, looking at the prints
made by the s