“How long are you going to stay?”

“That is our business, too.”

“Come on, Ham,” said Carl in a low voice.  “What is the use of talking to them at all?  Let us get back to our own camp, and let them take care of themselves.”

“All right, if you say so,” answered Ham Spink, and turning on his heel he walked back the way he had come, with his crony beside him.

“Now, what brought those chaps here?” demanded Snap as soon as their enemies were out of hearing.  “No good, I’ll wager that.”

“Oh, I guess they just wanted to come and say something,” said Giant.  “Let us have supper.  I’m too hungry to wait any longer.”

Supper was had, and the boy hunters and Tommy sat around the camp fire for two hours, discussing the situation and planning what they would do for the days to come.  It was decided to pay a visit to the lake for the remainder of the supplies two days later—–­after they had hunted and taken pictures and rested up a little.

The two days passed quickly.  The boy hunters saw and heard nothing of the Spink crowd and almost forgot about them.  They went out for game, and managed to bring down some rabbits, squirrels and some fine quail, and also a pinemarten.  They took over a dozen pictures of the game and also of the scenery, and Shep managed to get a fine photograph of an old owl as he sat on a tree limb.  The boys made no effort to shoot the owl, for he really seemed friendly and did not offer to fly away.

It was decided that Tommy and Whopper should remain at the camp while the other three made the trip to Firefly Lake.

“Take good care of things while we are gone,” cautioned the doctor’s son.  “Don’t let the Spink crowd get the best of you.”

“We’ll watch out,” answered Whopper.  “If they try any funny business we’ll shoot them into the middle of next year!”

“Oh, don’t shoot anybody!” cried Snap.

“Well, you know what I mean,” answered the youth who loved to exaggerate.

Shep and the others had expected to start off directly after breakfast, but Snap had to fix one of his shoes, and this delayed them.  But by ten o’clock they were on the way, the others waving them a fond farewell.

“We’ll look for you by to-morrow night,” said Tommy.

It was an easy matter to climb down the mountain side, but the walk up the hill that separated them from the lake was another story.  Yet, as they had only their guns to carry, they made good progress, and by the middle of the afternoon they were in plain sight of the body of water where they had left the boat.

“Somebody ahead of us!” cried Snap presently, and pointed out three persons walking toward the lake.

“I wonder if they can be members of the Spink crowd?” was Shep’s comment.  “Let us get closer and see”

CHAPTER XVII

WHAT HAPPENED UNDER THE CLIFF