d his
eyes for a few moments, finished the rest of the sandwich and went to
sleep again.

"Weak as a cat!" exclaimed Sandy.

The boy had scarcely closed his eyes when Cameron's voice was heard at
the entrance.

"Are you boys ready to write that note?" he asked.

"Come in here a minute," requested Sandy. "I want to get a good poke at
that ugly mug of yours!"

"You won't feel quite so lively after going hungry for a day or two,"
sneered Cameron. "You needn't mind about the letter, anyway," he added.
"I have information that there's a boy coming in from Cordova who can
read the code despatch and we're laying for him now."

"I don't want to seem to be irreligious," Sandy replied, "but I beg
leave to state that if I owed the devil a debt of a thousand of the
greatest liars on earth and he wouldn't take you and call the debt
square, I'd cheat him out of it! Your fabrications are too cheap!"

"Don't get fresh now," advised Cameron. "If you do, I'll come in there
and take it out of your hide!"

"Come on in!" urged Sandy. "I'd just like to get a good crack at your
crust! I think I could fix you up in about five minutes so you'd want to
lie in bed for about five months!"

"Aw, what's the good of stirring him up!" whispered George.

"I want to get him so mad that he'll say something that he wouldn't say
if he wasn't angry!" replied Sandy. "What's your idea about this boy
coming in, anyway? Do you believe it?"

"No!" was the reply. "There isn't any one to come in. And even if there
was, there is no way in which he could be notified that he was coming!
So you see, he's just lying for the fun of it!"

"Well, I'm sorry, boys," Cameron observed, "that you won't take
advantage of the offer I'm making you. I brought a basket of provisions
with me, and you might be having a square meal in five minutes if you'd
only do what I ask you to do."

"I thought you didn't want the letter now!" scoffed Sandy.

"Oh, I'll get it all right whether you write it or not!" answered
Cameron. "But if you have anything to say to me, you'd better say it
now, because you won't see me again until tomorrow morning. I've just
come from the cabin, and the boys there are about wild over your
disappearance. I explained that I found your hats not far from a piece
of torn and bloody turf, and that seemed to make them feel worse than
ever."

"Oh, they're on to you all right!" replied Sandy. "You can't make
anything stick with them. They know that yo