erfoot.
Yes? Well?"

"So you changed your scent, so ter speak. You felt in your pocket an'
fetched out them chips o' lead pencil, an' you planted em one by one so
all-fired cutely that nobody who wasn't searchin' fer signs c'd have
discovered 'em. One of 'em you dropped lightly on a branch of balsam,
level with my eyes; another you hung up, even more lightly, on a line
of spider web. How did you manage that, Kiddie?"

Kiddie looked up from his spoonful of egg.

"Just laid th' chip in the palm of my hand an' blew it softly inter th'
web, where it stuck suspended, like Mahomet's coffin," he explained.

"Don't know nothin' 'bout Mahomet's coffin," said Rube, "but that chip
o' pencil was real cleverly done; it was top notch. After that, you
dropped clues pretty freely, afraid o' my missin' 'em, I reckon. You
didn't just blaze the trees; but you broke down twigs, you tore up
ferns an' things, you kicked up the soil with your toe, an' you scored
marks with your stick. At one place you tied a knot in a clump of rush
grass, leavin' a pointer. I was follerin' you quick when at last I
come t' the creek, an' thar you had me. You waded into th'
water--that's how you got your moccasins wet--an' you didn't cross; you
walked up the stream, I guess."

"Right," nodded Kiddie. "But that was a false scent. I didn't go
far--not more'n a dozen yards--I came out on the same side and dried my
feet."

"I saw where you did that," Rube went on. "It wasn't far from where
you laid the three fir cones as a pointer, plain's a sign-post. Then
you followed along by the creek to the tree where you hung up th' leaf
from your pocket-book. From there you made it easy for me, comin' home
in a bee-line, scatterin' clues right an' left."

"Well, Rube, I'll say this," declared Kiddie, "that you did remarkably
well all through. There were not a great many clues that you failed to
pick up. You missed some important ones, however, which makes it all
the more surprisin' that you came back so quickly. We'll play that
same game another time. It's good for us both. And now, I guess we'll
just wash up an' make the camp clean for the night before goin' out in
the canoe ter catch a fish or two, if it's not too late."

CHAPTER XII

A MOONLIGHT VISITOR

As a matter of fact, the fishing was only a pretext on Kiddie's part.
They caught no fish whatever, and they were still in the middle of the
lake when darkness came on.

Kiddie ling