have
had an eye to his own affairs. Perhaps it was not many miles away from
the shack of Cale Martin, the man who had been logger, trapper, guide,
and was now about to turn his superior knowledge concerning foxes into a
profitable channel, and raise them for their valuable furs.

Thad hoped that for the sake of Jim's peace of mind he might carry out
his plan before they broke camp here. And secretly he was determined
that, should the guide decide to take a chance at finding Old Cale at
home, he would not be averse to accompanying Jim across country to the
place where Little Lina used to live, before she ran away with Jim.

Despite his positive conviction that he was really on the eve of
succeeding with his fire-making, by the aid of his little bow, and the
twirling stick, Giraffe had failed to accomplish what he expected that
morning. Why, he hardly ate any breakfast, so engrossed had he been in
his "fiddling" as Bumpus contemptuously called it, whenever he saw the
tall scout working that clumsy little bow. But as usual, some little
thing went wrong that spoiled the whole combination; and of course fire
did not reward the hard labor Giraffe put in.

He looked so bitterly disappointed that even Bumpus did not have the
heart to taunt him; though as a rule the fat boy could be depended on to
do his share of such.

But then, it had been arranged that Giraffe and Bumpus were to go out on
a hunt on the following day, all by themselves, and without even a guide
along. Giraffe had boasted so often now, that he felt himself fully
competent to look after himself when adrift in the woods, that Thad
thought it might be a good thing to give him the chance. And there was
Bumpus, eager to make use of his new gun; nothing would please him
better than to accompany the tall scout.

Of course neither Thad, nor any one else for that matter, ever suspected
that they would bag any game, unless it might be a few half-tame
partridges, that would sit on a limb, and wait to be knocked over.
Indeed, Thad was of the opinion that in the end the two bold Nimrods
might even get lost, and have to be searched for.

But then, they would unquestionably leave a plain trail that the guides
could pick up without great trouble; and the experience would be worth
much to both Giraffe and Bumpus. They were really getting too "scrappy"
in their dealings with each other; and a little spice, such as must
accompany losing themselves in the woods, and being d