d whisky and dealt
in the contraband plumes of the egret.

The boys were up and off at daylight, for they had agreed to do two
days' work in every twenty-four hours till they caught the canoe
they were chasing. Johnny had talked with Tiger about the Osceola
trail, until he felt he could follow it blind-folded, and little
time was lost in studying as they poled and paddled that day.

Soon after their start in the morning Dick had said, as he threw his
weight on the paddle, which he was using as a pole:

"Are you game, Johnny, to camp to-night where we jerked the
venison?"

"I kin stand it if you kin. Them squaws took two days, though, 'nd I
ain't lookin' ter beat Injuns much with a canoe."

It is doubtful if the boys could have made the camp, for darkness
came before they were in sight of it, had not Dick said:

"Johnny, isn't that a light over there toward the land? I've seen
it two or three times. Do you s'pose it's a fire in the woods?"

"Don't see it," said Johnny. "Yes, I do, now," adding excitedly an
instant later: "Don't you 'member th' big bend in th' trail jest
after we left th' camp we're lookin' fer? That fire ain't in th'
woods. It's at our old camp, 'nd Charley Tommy built that fire, sure
as shootin'."

Dick was faint with excitement, and could scarcely hold his paddle.

"We must get there soon as we can," said he.

"Sure!" said Johnny. "Only let's go quiet 'nd s'prise 'em."

If Charley Tommy had been a white man the plan would probably have
been successful. As the boys approached the camp they moved more and
more slowly, until Dick laid down his paddle and Johnny did all the
work. There was not a sound that Dick could hear, and when the canoe
was within a hundred feet of the fire he could see Ned Barstow
resting his elbow on a log near it, while the Indian lay beside a
palmetto, apparently asleep. But as the canoe continued to approach,
Charley Tommy lifted his head, took a swift look around, and, half
rising, gazed keenly out over the water toward the boys in the
canoe. Further concealment was impossible, and Dick called out:

"Hello, the camp!"

Ned sprang to his feet, and looking across the water in the
direction from which the dream voice seemed to have come, was
silent until he saw the shadowy outline of a canoe, when he spoke in
a voice that trembled with emotion:

"Dicky boy, is that you?"

"Yes, Neddy!" And soon the reunited chums had grabbed and hugged one
another till both were