“I thought wolves didn’t attack folks excepting in the dead of winter, when they couldn’t get anything to eat,” remarked Shep.

“That is usually the case,” answered Snap.  “But once in a while they do as they did to-day—–­when there is a large pack of them.”

Snap and Shep had made their traps and had some success at fishing, having caught four pike of fair size and also several catfish.

That night came a fall of snow, which covered the ground to the depth of several inches.  In the morning it was so cold they were glad enough to hug the fire until nearly noon.

In the afternoon Whopper went out on the lake and soon came back with news.

“What do you think?” he called out.  “The Spink crowd is leaving!”

“Breaking up camp?” queried Giant.

“Yes; they are loading everything in their boat.”

This announcement produced a mild sensation, and after a consultation, Snap and his chums decided to row across the lake and watch proceedings.

Ham Spink and his cronies were indeed leaving, and in far from a good humor.  None of them was a good shot and they did not possess the patience necessary to become good hunters or fishermen.  As a consequence they had brought down very little game and caught only a few fish.  Their stock of provisions brought from home was running low, and each boy in the camp had voted the outing a failure.

“Going to leave us?” called out Snap, as he and his friends rested on their oars a short distance from the rival camp.

“Yes,” was Ham Spink’s surly response.

“What’s the matter?  Don’t you like the hunting here?” asked Whopper.

“Oh, don’t be so inquisitive!” came from Dick Bush.  “I guess you are glad enough to see us go.”

“Not at all,” said Giant.  “You are welcome to stay, so long as you don’t interfere with our doings.”

“We don’t think much of this place,” grunted Ham Spink.  “It may be good enough in the middle of summer, but not now, when winter is coming on.”

“Are you going right home, Ham?” asked Snap.

“What business is that of yours?”

“I thought if you were, you might sell us what stores you have left over.”

“We have nothing to sell to you,” was the cold reply.

“We might make a trade,” put in Shep.  “We have got some plump partridge and rabbits to spare.”

“Humph!  Are you saying that just to tease us?”

“Not at all.  Here are the rabbits and the partridge, too,” and the doctor’s son held them up.

Now, as it happened, Ham Spink and his cronies were very anxious to take some game home, but had nothing but one rabbit and a little squirrel.  They gazed longingly at the plump game Shep exhibited.

“Let us take them,” whispered Dick Bush.  “Nobody will know how we got them.”

At this Ham Spink’s eyes brightened.  He was not above telling an untruth when he felt like it.