e turn?"

"We'll have to go back to where we found the two trails crossed and then
try the other one. I don't know of anything else to do."

"Wouldn't Dan Baxter be surprised, if he knew we were so close?"

"Well, we won't let him know."

"Why not?" demanded an unexpected voice from the rear.

Both boys started and turned around, to find themselves confronted by
Lemuel Husty, the man Dick had seen in company with Baxter at
Cedarville.

"Hullo, who are you?" asked Tom, as quickly as he could recover from
his surprise.

"If you want to know real bad, youngster, my name is Lemuel Husty."

"I don't know you."

"But I know you--leas'wise I know of you," went on Husty, with a frown.
"You're down on my friend Baxter, aint you?"

"If we are, we have a good reason to be," came from Sam.

"Perhaps you have, and then again, perhaps you haven't. It aint no nice
thing to be cotched spying, though."

"We weren't spying. We came up quite by accident."

"You can tell that to the monkeys, but you can't tell it to me," growled
Lemuel Husty. Then he raised his voice: "I say, Baxter! I say, you
fellows! Come over here!"

The three around the camp-fire looked up in surprise, and were even more
surprised when Husty waved his hand for them to come to him.

"What's wanted?" demanded Dan Baxter.

"I've found two of your very intimate friends spying on you," answered
Husty.

"I guess we had better get out," whispered Sam to Tom, not liking the
turn affairs had taken.

"I'm with you," returned Tom.

"No, you don't!" cried Husty, and caught hold of the sled. "You just
stay here until we talk this thing over."

Tom's hands were on his gun, and for the moment he felt like pointing
the weapon at the man. But then he concluded that this would do small
good, and the weapon remained where it was.

In a minute Dan Baxter came running across the pond, with Jasper Grinder
and Bill Harney at his heels. Each of the advancing party carried some
sort of firearms.

"Tom and Sam Rover!" ejaculated Baxter, and it was easy to see that he
was completely surprised. "How did you get here?"

"Walked and skated," returned Tom, as coolly as he could.

"You've got a nerve to follow me and my party," went on Baxter, with an
ugly scowl.

"As I just said to this man, Baxter, we haven't been following you," put
in Sam. "We struck your trail by accident. We thought we were
following----"

"Never mind about that, Sam," interrupted Tom quickly