“I want to stretch my legs a little,” was Don’s reply.  “Come on, and let’s explore the island.  You know it used to be a famous bear’s den, don’t you?”

“I should think I ought to know it, having heard father tell the story of the animal’s capture a dozen times or more.  He must have been a monster:  he was so large and heavy that it was all a span of mules could do to drag him from the shore of the lake, where he was taken out of the boat, up to the house.”

“And didn’t he make things lively before he was killed, though?” said Don.  “He destroyed nine dogs and wounded two men.  I’d like to take part in a hunt like that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t.  It looks gloomy in the cane, doesn’t it?  What would we do if we should find a bear in there?”

“I don’t know,” answered Don, with a laugh.  “Our guns are loaded with small shot, and they would hardly penetrate a bear’s thick skin.  If he should come at us, I’d be a goner, sure, for I am so stiff I couldn’t run to save my life.  But I don’t think we’ll find——­Halloo!  Bert, just look here!”

A chorus of exclamations followed, and Godfrey and Dan looked at each other and scowled fiercely.

“That’s my canoe,” said Don, and they heard the oars rattle as he stepped into it.

“There’s no doubt about that,” said Bert, in surprised and delighted tones; “but how came it here?”

“That’s the question.  The fellow who stole it took it up the bayou and then turned it loose, having no further use for it, or else it got away from him and drifted down here.”

“Who knows but the thief brought it here himself, and that he is on the island now, hidden in the cane?” said Bert, lowering his voice, but still speaking quite loud enough to make himself heard by Godfrey and Dan.

“I hardly think that can be possible,” replied Don.  “You see the bow of the canoe was caught on this root; and that makes me think it was brought down by the current and lodged here.”

Godfrey and Dan looked at each other again.  They had taken no pains to secure the boat when they left it, and the current had moved it from its place on the bank and was carrying it toward the lake, when it caught on the root where it was discovered by its lawful owner.

“I am glad to get it again,” said Don, “for I don’t know what we should have done without it.  It is just the thing to chase crippled ducks with.  If I could see the man who stole it, I’d give him a piece of my mind, I tell you.”

After that there was a pause in the conversation and the rattling of a chain told Godfrey and Dan that the canoe was being fastened to the stern of the boat in which the brothers had come up the bayou.  Then there was more conversation in a subdued tone of voice, and presently a commotion in the cane indicated that Don and Bert were working their way slowly toward the camp.  Dan began to tremble and turn white, and his father looked as though he would have been glad to run if he had only known where to go.