“Well, that tastes pretty fine,” remarked Bud, after he had drunk his fill and carefully replaced his cup in its receptacle; “and now to get under cover.  I reckon the very first thing we ought to attend to is getting a supply of wood indoors, so as to make the old shanty feel comfortable.  I never think of a camp without seeing a camp fire as the best thing in it.  It is that that binds scouts together more than any other part of the outdoor game, I think.  Does it strike you that way, too, Hugh?”

“Yes, I came to that conclusion,” replied the leader of the Wolf patrol, “after watching how anxious the boys always were to get plenty of fuel ready long before night came.  Then you know a fire stands for grub time, too, and that always appeals to scouts who have done lots of things during the day to tire themselves out.”

“That’s so, I’ve had heaps of fun just watching Billy Worth’s eyes dance while he hauled firewood into camp.  With every armful he seemed to be saying, ’There, that’s going to help cook our supper to-night!  And we’re going to have fried onions, and potatoes and ham omelette!’ I had half a notion to ask Billy to come along with us on this trip, but somehow I hated to think of the fun he’d poke at me in case my wonderful invention turned out to be a fizzle, like so many of them have in the past.  I knew you wouldn’t give me away, Hugh, if that happened,—–­and if I lived to tell the tale!  Well, I hope I can get my pack on my back again for the last hundred feet; but it comes harder every time.  Thanks awfully for the poke, Hugh; it did the business.  Now I’m in harness and ready to go on.”

The two weary scouts staggered more or less as they started to push through the last barrier of trees and brush.  They knew that they would speedily discover the long deserted shack there among the second growth thicket of young trees.  Indeed, it was hardly half a minute later when Bud came to a sudden halt, at the same time saying in a hoarse whisper: 

“Hugh, look there, will you?  There’s a light in the shanty!  What do you think of the meanness of that?  After we’ve come all the way up here just to keep to ourselves, then to find somebody camping on the ground!  Shucks!  It makes me feel as if it was a bad omen, and right in the start, too!”

CHAPTER II

A CAMP SUPPER

The two boys stood there looking for a full minute.  Hugh had discovered the presence of a light in the cabin about the same time that Bud mentioned the fact.  It could be seen shining through the aperture that had once been used as a window.  There was no glass in this now, and a heavy shutter, hung on rusty hinges, gave the only means of keeping out the cold air, though this had not been closed by the unknown party within.

“Whoever can it be?” muttered the disgusted Bud, doubtless begrudging that long tramp from the road where the friendly farmer had dropped them.