“What does what mean?” returned Snap, as coolly as he could, yet he felt that something “was in the wind.”

“This!” cried the man, pointing to the cabin.  “Who built that?”

“We did,” put in Shep.

“Did you?” sneered the man.  “And who gave you permission to do it?”

“Nobody,” said Whopper.  “We took permission.  What have you got to say about it?” he added, not liking the man’s tone.

“What have I got to say about it?” ejaculated the bearded man.  “I’ve got a good deal to say about it, seems to me.  Don’t you know this is my private property?”

“No; we didn’t know that,” put in Snap, quickly.  “Are you Mr. Chester?”

“No; I am Mr. Andrew Felps.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Snap, but the word meant a good deal.  He remembered that the man named was the head of the lumber company with which the Barnaby Lumber Company had had its dispute over the Spur Road tract.  Snap’s father had had several interviews with Mr. Andrew Felps, and the feeling engendered was decidedly bitter.

“You boys have no right on this property,” went on Andrew Felps.

“I thought Mr. Chester owned this tract of land.”

“He did, but he has sold out to the Felps Lumber Company, of which I am the head.  Who ar you?”

“My name is Charley Dodge.”

“Humph!!  Come from Fairview?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is it your father who has the interest in the lumber company there?”

“Yes, sir.”

At this discovery Andrew Felps’ face grew positively resentful.

“I suppose he sent you up here, eh?” he snarled.

“No.  We got permission to go camping out and picked this place as suiting us.”

“Well, you knew what was good,” put in another of the men.

“Did you see us looking around here a couple of weeks ago?” went on Andrew Felps.

“We did not.”

“Who are these—–­other kids with you?”

“Thank you, but I am not a kid,” put in Shep.  “My name is Sheppard Reed, and I am the son of Dr. Reed of Fairview.  This is Frank Dawson, and the boy out in the boat is Will Caslette.  We all belong at Fairview.  As Snap—–­I mean Charley—–­says, we came to camp out.  We have always understood that this was a free camping-out place.  Folks have come to this lake for years.”

“Well, they are not coming here any more!” cried Andrew Felps.

“After this those who come will pay for the privilege.”

“The place isn’t fenced in,” said Whopper.

“No; but it will be, shortly.  I am going to have a wire fence put up.”

Seeing there was a dispute going on, Giant came ashore.

“What’s the trouble?” he sang out.  “Bad news from home?”

“No—–­bad news right here,” murmured Shep, coming towards him.

“What do you mean?”

“Wait and see.”

“I came down here to camp out myself,” went on Andrew Felps.  “I and my friends picked this very spot over two weeks ago.  I am going to have a first-class cabin built here shortly.  You boys had no right to cut down the trees.”