urned in his
direction; just as though he should be placed in the same class with
fire.

"Oh! because the wind came up like great guns shortly after we left
camp," Thad went on, always ready to point a lesson to those under him;
"and from the river, too. Now, if we'd left any fire there, the chances
are it would have been picked up, and thrown into the woods. As there
was a lot of dry stuff around, you can see how easy a fire starts up
here. And when it once gets going, I reckon it can burn some, eh,
Allan?"

"If you ever have the good or bad luck to run across a forest afire,
while we're up in this section, you'll see a sight that none of you'll
soon forget," and he had to cast a meaning glance as he spoke in the
direction of the fire worshipper.

But Giraffe only smiled in a satisfied way.

"Talk all you want," he remarked; "but I think I've got that business
down fine, now; and to-night, _to-night_ I'm just bound to prove to
Bumpus here that the cream is on him. I knew I'd get it sometime."

"Well, don't crow till you're out of the woods," remarked Bumpus, from
the bow end of the canoe. "I'm willing to be convinced; and it'll be
worth all it costs me just to see you work that puzzle out."

"But you just know I c'n do it, don't you?" persisted Giraffe.

"Won't say," answered the fat boy, obstinately.

"Well, you might as well be counting up your spare cash, because I'm
bound to show you at the first chance. It just _can't_ slip away
from me much longer; and I reckon I've got it clinched this time," and
after that Giraffe would not talk, but seemed to be muttering to himself
from time to time, as though he might be repeating a certain formula
that he believed to be the winning combination.

They were not trying to make fast time now, because there was really no
necessity for doing so. Having arrived on the chain of lakes that, with
the St. Johns river, almost makes a great island of the northern portion
of Maine, they were bent on enjoying themselves. That meant going into
camp at some point where the guides were agreed they might have the best
hunting; and from that time on taking toll of the woods' folks as their
larder required, wasting nothing, and refraining from hunting when food
was not needed.

They were true scouts, and believed in following the uplifting
principles that govern the actions of the better class of sportsmen. As
Step Hen so often declared, they did not want to be called "game hogs,"