very one a sensation of relief.

"I think myself that we'll be given another chance to show what we can
do," was what Paul remarked. "We can prove that we had the victory about
as good as clinched when this unexpected thing came along. And I know
Mr. Sargeant will be pleased to hear that we gave up our chances of
winning that trophy because a sudden serious duty confronted us."

"Then we're going to start right away to try and find the middle of
Black Water Swamps--is that the idea, Paul?" inquired Seth.

"That's what it amounts to, it looks like, to me," replied the
scoutmaster, as he stood there in the open road, looking long and
steadily at the very spot where they had seen the last of the dropping
balloon; just as though he might be fixing the locality on his mind for
future use.

"Do we all have to go, Paul, or are you going to let several of us tramp
along to Beverly?" some one asked just then.

"That depends on how you feel about it," was the answer the scoutmaster
gave. "It won't do any good for a part of the patrol to arrive on time,
because, you remember one of the rules of the game is that every member
must fulfill the conditions, and make the full hundred miles hike. Do
you want to go to town, while the rest of us are searching the swamps
for the aeronaut, Eben?"

"I should say not," hastily replied the bugler.

"How about you, Noodles?" continued Paul.

"Nixey doing; me for der swamps, undt you can put dot in your pipe undt
smoke idt," the one addressed replied, for there were times when the
scouts, being off duty, could forget that Paul was anything other than a
chum.

"Well," the patrol leader went on to say, laughingly, "I'm not going to
ask any other fellow, for I see by the looks on your faces that you'd
take it as an insult. So, the next thing to settle is where we'd better
strike into the place."

Seth came to the front again.

"Well, you see, I talked a lot with that feller that got lost in there;
and he told a heap of interesting things about the blooming old swamp,
also where he always started into the same when trapping. You see,
somehow I got a hazy idea in this silly head of mine that some time or
other I might want to get a couple of chums to go with me, and try and
see what there was in the middle of the Black Water Swamps."

"That's good, Seth," declared one of his mates, encouragingly.

"The smartest thing you ever did, barring none," added Jotham.

"It's apt to be of more