mewheres around the lake; but he didn't say
nothin' 'bout your bein' camped on an island. I bin searchin' along
the shores; found one o' your campin' grounds in among the trees,
though you'd cleaned it up so's it wasn't easy ter be sure it was a
campin' place at all. Guess you didn't intend anybody ter foller on
your tracks, or you'd ha' left some signs around. How do, Rube?"

He shook hands with the two trappers, and then turned to help in the
work of cleaning and frying the fish for tea.

"Gee!" he exclaimed, at sight of the afternoon's catch. "Never
notioned thar was so many fish in the whole of your lake 's all that,
Kiddie! Why, they're 'most as pretty an' colourful as birds, too.
Say, are they all the same breed?"

"Oh, no," Rube told him, indicating the various kinds in rotation.
"Them thar's pickerel, that's a bream, these are shiners, pouts, an'
chivins; the others are trout an' perch. We'll cook 'em all together,
though."

"Young Rube's gettin' quite a professional hand at cookin'," said
Kiddie, measuring out pinches of tea. "You'll hear of him one o' these
days takin' on the job of chef in some high-class New York hotel. He's
got twenty-one diff'rent ways of cookin' eggs, an' as many of potatoes.
You didn't happen ter bring along any eggs or potatoes, did you, Isa?
Rube an' I are livin' quite simply, but I'm figuring that you'll be
lookin' for variety in the matter of food. You'll stay with us, won't
you, Sheriff, until we break camp?"

Isa Blagg shook his head.

"No, Kiddie; no," he responded. "It would suit me right down t' th'
dust; but it ain't possible. I'm here t' consult you on a matter o'
business; an' soon's I'm through with it, I gotter quit."

CHAPTER XIII

A MATTER OF BUSINESS

Isa Blagg was in no haste to state the nature of the business which had
brought him upon so long a journey in search of Kiddie; and Kiddie did
not press him for an explanation of his unexpected visit.

"Rube an' I, we ain't gettin' anyways tired of each other's company,"
Kiddie remarked when the meal was over and Isa was taking out his pipe.
"All the same, Sheriff, we're main glad ter see you. Got any news?"

"News?" Isa was lighting his pipe. "No, thar ain't a whole lot.
Things is kinder quiet along the trail, an' you ain't missin' a great
deal of excitement. I'm told as Broken Feather's bin seen about again.
Seems he's bin laid up f'r a while back with the bullet wound you gave
him. But