es--that she
could see.

The girls plunged along the sand, and through the shallow water for
several yards. Here the bushes grew right down to the edge of the lake.
Suddenly Wyn caught sight of something ahead, and uttered a sharp
command:

"Stop! every one of you! Do you hear me, Frank? Stop!"

"Oh, dear! they can eat us here just as well as anywhere," groaned
Grace.

"Now be quiet!" said Wynifred, in some heat. "We've all been foolish
enough. _Those were not bears._"

"Cows, maybe, Wynnie?" asked Mrs. Havel. "But I am quite as afraid of
cows----"

"Nor cows, either. I guess you wouldn't have been fooled for a minute if
you had seen them," said Wyn.

"What do you mean, Wyn?" cried Frank. "I tell you I saw them with my own
eyes----"

"Of course you did. So did I," admitted Wyn. "But we did not see them
right. They are not bears, walking on their hind legs; they are just
boys walking on the only legs they've got!"

"The Busters!" ejaculated Frank.

"Oh, Wyn! do you think so?" asked Mina, hopefully.

"Look ahead," commanded Wyn. "There are the boys' canoes. They paddled
over here this morning and dressed up in those old moth-eaten buffalo
robes they had over there, on the island, and managed to frighten us
nicely."

"That's it! They played a joke on us," began Frank, laughing.

But Mrs. Havel was angry. "They should be sent home for playing such a
trick," she said, "and I shall speak to Professor Skillings about it."

"Pooh!" said Wyn. "They're only boys. And of course they'll be up to
such tricks. The thing to do is to go them one better."

"How, Wyn, how?" cried her mates.

"I do not know that I can allow this, Wynifred," began Mrs. Havel,
doubtfully.

"You wish to punish them; don't you, Mrs. Havel?"

"They should be punished--yes."

"Then we have the chance," cried Wyn, gleefully. "You go back to the
camp, Mrs. Havel, and we girls will take their canoes--every one of
them. We'll call them the trophies of war, and we'll make the Busters
pay--and pay well for them--before they get their canoes back. What do
you say, girls?"

"Splendid!" cried Frank. "And they frightened me so!"

"Look out for the biscuits, Mrs. Havel, please," begged Bess. "I am
afraid they will be burned."

The lady returned hurriedly to the camp on the top of the hillock. When
she mounted the rise from the shore, there was a circle of giggling
youths about the open fireplace and a pile of moth-eaten buffalo hides
near b