take her around a carry,
and I reckon it's to be done here."

"How long before the moon rises?"

"Somewhere about midnight."

"Then suppose we try to find out for certain if those camping on Dollar
Island are the ones we want to keep in sight?"

"I'm willing if you say the word."

"Then come on. That fellow is safe enough, and we shall be just so
much farther ahead with our work."

Jim led the way back to the boat, removed his shoes and stockings as a
precaution against making a noise, Jet doing the same, and the two
started, with the small guide paddling instead of rowing.

The faint glimmer of light served as a beacon, and toward it they
advanced slowly until the boat's bow struck the shore.

Jim motioned for his companion to help him pull her up, and then stole
through the woods as noiselessly as a shadow.

The gloom was so dense that it was necessary Jet should hold on to the
leader's coat, otherwise they would speedily have been separated, and a
watcher ten feet away could not have said a human being was passing.

Thanks to the fire-light, it was not a difficult matter for the two to
go straight to the camp, and in a comparatively short time they were
where it was possible not only to see the occupants, but to hear
everything which was said.

Jet's spirits rose very high as he recognized the two he had followed
so long, and now all previous discomforts and suffering were forgotten
in the knowledge that he was once more carrying out Harvey's
instructions to the letter.

The men had built quite a comfortable looking hut in the center of the
island, where it would not be seen from the water, and near by was the
boat, turned bottom-up as if they did not expect to use her for some
time.

The fact that they allowed themselves a camp-fire at a time when it
could be distinguished from a distance was probably owing to the fact
that visitors seldom visited this particular lake after dark, since the
absence of deer in the vicinity prevented hunters from scouring the
banks with a jack light.

Both were ready for trouble, however, as could be told by the guns
stacked within reach while they smoked and drank in front of the cheery
blaze, and Jet was forced to admit to himself that these men could not
be made prisoners with as much ease as in case of the other.

For some time the boys watched in silence, mentally jotting down all
the details of the camp for future reference, and then Sam said, with a
yawn: