his old shack," Sandy said, as they
paused in the gathering darkness at the doorway.

"There's no knowing how long it has stood here, waiting for us to come
and gladden its dirty old walls with our presence and our scrubbing
brushes!" laughed Tommy. "I've seen a good many cleaner cabins in my
life!"

"And there is no knowing how many tragedies have been enacted here,
either!" exclaimed George. "It must have witnessed many a queer sight!"

"It must have been built within a year or two," Will observed, "for the
logs do not yet show decay."

"What I can't get through my noodle," George said, with a puzzled look,
"is why any one should construct such a habitable little cabin in this
out of the way spot, and then go away and leave it. We must be at least
twelve or fifteen miles from the nearest neighbor."

"We're farther than that," observed Sandy, "judging from the time it
took us to row our supplies over from the floating dock where we landed.
I hope we'll be ready to go out by the time our provisions run short."

"Look here, Will," Tommy questioned, "did Mr. Horton direct you to this
exact spot, or did he only tell you to locate somewhere in this
vicinity? You never told us what he said."

"He told me," was the guarded reply, "that I might be able to find a
deserted cabin on this moraine."

"And he told you right where to find the moraine?" asked Sandy.

"Of course he did!"

"And you said nothing to us about that, either," complained Tommy.
"You're always holding something back from us!"

"Well, now that we're here," George suggested, "perhaps Will can be
coaxed into telling us exactly what we're here for."

"I should say so!" exclaimed Tommy. "We don't, know at the present
moment whether we're here to trap brown bears, or to box and ship
Northern Lights to the eastern markets."

"Don't get sarcastic, boys!" replied Will. "I was instructed by Mr.
Horton to communicate to you all the information in my possession on our
first night in camp, and I'm ready right now to obey orders. Shall we go
inside? The bugs are pretty thick out here!"

"I should say so!" shouted Tommy. "I'm pretty well hedged in from the
blooming insects," he went on, "but it makes me nervous to hear them
blowing their dinner horns every minute."

"Gee!" exclaimed Sandy. "Whenever I get into this anti-mosquito rig, I
feel like an armored train!"

Twilight lay heavy over the landscape now, and so the boys were
confronted by a dark interi