to be such a skillful cook had he been there to hear.

Scolding doesn't as a rule, make any material difference in a fellow's
situation, and this Jet came to understand when he was forced to cease
from sheer lack of breath.

"What a fool I'm making of myself!" he exclaimed. "The idea of
standing here raving when I ought to be trying to mend matters."

It was difficult, however, when he began to reflect, to decide upon his
course.

Should he go toward the town in search of Jim, and also to hire another
boat?

That would involve the loss of two days, during which time the officer
for whom he had telegraphed might arrive, and, failing to find him, go
down the lake on a wild goose chase.

To attempt to search for the men, alone and on foot, seemed the height
of folly, and while he stood near the water's edge deliberating upon
the question of whether he could replenish his stock of provisions
without paying a visit to the settlement, the rustling of the bushes
proclaimed an arrival.

Jet looked around, half expecting to see his seedy friend of the
previous evening come back to tell him it was all a joke, when the
small guide Jim stepped into view.

He was evidently in the best of spirits, and gazed at Jet as if
wondering why he was not welcomed more warmly.

"I've made two dollars, though I ain't got 'em yet, since I've been
gone," he said, as he threw on the ground in front of the shanty a
well-filled bag, "an' now there's as much grub in camp as will last us
for a month, providin' we do a little cookin'."

"What made you stay so long?"

"Why, you see, it was to earn the two dollars I was tellin' about. I
met a feller the other side of the carry what was askin' if I'd seen
two men 'round here fishin', an' we had a real sociable talk----"

"Was that when you were going up to the village?" Jet interrupted.

"Of course."

"And the fellow had black whiskers on his chin, and said he was a guide
and cook."

"That's the very one. Have you seen him?"

"I will tell you after your story is finished."

"Well we had a right nice time together. I gave him part of my lunch,
an' then he wanted me to come back with him; but I told him I'd got to
get to the telegraph office----"

"Did you let him know what you were going there for?" Jet asked,
excitedly.

"Of course not, though he tried mighty hard to find out. He was
lookin' for a party what's coming through the carry in a day or two,
an' has got a job with