understand whether a boy was pulled from the river, and brought around
all right; or if a poor fellow had been taken with the colic, and you
used a stomach pump on him. But then, as I said, my good sense told me
the former must have been the case. Who was it, and is he all right
again?"

"I'm the victim," declared Tom Betts, promptly; "and I guess the whole
show would have been broke up if Paul here hadn't yanked me out like he
did."

Mr. Gordon turned a look of sincere affection on Paul. He had studied
the boy often, and always found something new to admire about him.
Still, he knew it was not always wise to praise a lad to his face; and
so he only squeezed Paul's hand.

Paul was a happy fellow just then. It seemed to him that the load of
responsibility had slipped from his shoulders like magic with the coming
of Mr. Gordon. Now they could undertake all manner of interesting
stunts; and each day would be taken up with dozens of events in which
they wished to shine.

Presently the fishermen made their appearance. A shout went up at sight
of the glorious strings of fine trout they carried. Although they had
heard the cheers of their mates, and understood that Mr. Gordon must
have arrived, really they did not have the heart to break away, while
the fish were feeding so savagely.

"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest!" cried Bobolink; "good-bye
ham, and how d'ye do Mr. Trout. I really don't know which I like best.
When I'm eating trout my thoughts go out to ham; and when I'm sitting
down to a rasher of bacon I do long so for a mess of trout. But they're
all to the good, fellows. Do it some more, will you?"

And when William and the other cooks served the fish at noon the boys
were loud in their praises. Some had suggestions to offer about the ways
of cooking them; but it was noticed that half the inmates of the camp
busied themselves immediately after lunch in hunting fishing tackle; and
the prospect for peace among the finny tribes in that lake was small.

There was no little rivalry between the trio of cooks. Usually this took
the form of good-natured chaffing, and trying new dishes, in order to
arouse the envy of other patrols.

Bobolink always hung around to hear these discussions; but William made
a great mistake when, thinking to bolster up his cause at one time, he
demanded to know what the member of the Red Fox Patrol thought about it.

"Huh!" grunted the wise Bobolink, "I'll tell you, if you prom