“We want some sleep, you see.  In the morning we’ll be able to attend to these fellows.  I guess nothing will bother them until then,” he said.

He and Joe entered the little dinghy, and it was ferried across the water to the anchored boat.  There they were met by both Will and Bluff, who, being aroused by the first shot, had sat there, swathed in blankets, watching for the return of the mighty Nimrods.

“What luck?” called Bluff, evidently repenting that he had not accompanied them.

“Oh, Jerry got his bear, all right,” sang out Frank indifferently, while he kept on pushing the smaller boat closer to the other.

“But didn’t you shoot?  Will declared it was your shotgun that awoke us first—­it must have been hours ago,” went on Bluff curiously.

“Why, yes.  I had a shot at a gray visitor who threatened to jump down on me from the tree.”  And Frank began climbing aboard so that Joe could go back after the other chum.

“What!  Do you mean a panther?” burst out Bluff.

“Sure!  Wait till you see the chap, in the morning.  Looks like a dandy,” replied Frank, trying to appear unconcerned.

“Then you got him?”

“It was a case of getting him before he got me.”  And then, taking pity on the boys, who were fairly burning with eagerness to hear, he told how he had happened to discover the crouching beast that had crept into the tree without their knowledge.

Presently Jerry came aboard.  Both of the hunters, as well as young Joe, were too sleepy for further conversation.

“You’ll see it all in the morning.  And Will, we can hang up the game so that you’ll have a fine shot at the scene, bee tree and all.  Every time we look at it our mouths will water at the thought of all that fine honey going to waste,” and with this parting remark Frank crawled under his blanket.

Nothing happened to disturb the outdoor chums during the balance of the night.  With the coming of morning they were astir.  Breakfast was a hurried meal.  Then they went ashore in detachments, Joe remaining behind to look after the boat.

Will managed to get a good picture of the trophies, with the two gallant hunters standing beside the defunct bear and panther.  Then, after the former had been washed, being sticky with the honey, Frank assisted Jerry to get the skin off.  It was here the boys profited by the advice given by the old trapper, Jesse Wilcox, when they visited him in his camp above Rocky Creek, which was a feeder to the lake upon which their home town was located.

Before noon they were all aboard again.  Both skins had been secured, besides the choice portions of the bear meat.  Bluff even managed to fill another kettle with the honey, though stung unmercifully by the angry bees that were so busily working to transfer their stores to a new home.

After a bite of lunch they started out again on the gulf, since the conditions invited an afternoon cruise.  Frank knew they would find a good holding place not more than twenty miles further along the shore, and he aimed to reach it before the coming of night.