out of it later."

The whole camp was excited and every one followed David back to the
cairn when he returned to restore the letter to its place in the can.

"'Tis something somebody's tryin' to hide," suggested Peter.

"There's no doubtin' that," said David. "I'm thinkin' 'tis not right
whatever 'tis."

"We'll get camp in shape and have our dinner and then try to solve the
mystery," said Doctor Joe. "It is a real mystery, for no one would
make an ordinary cache in this way, and if it was an honest matter
there would be no threat."

CHAPTER XII

THE HIDDEN CACHE

When camp was made snug and dinner disposed of, Doctor Joe followed
the boys down to the cairn. A careful examination was made of the soil
surrounding the rock upon which the cairn was built, and in loose
gravel close to the shore were found the imprints of feet. It was
evident, however, that rain had fallen since the tracks were made, for
they were so nearly washed away that there could be no certainty
whether they were made by moccasins or nailed boots.

"'Twere a week ago they were here whatever," observed David, rising
upon his feet after a close scrutiny upon hands and knees. "I'm
thinkin' we'll see no sign of un now to help us trail un to the rock
the writin' tells about."

"The ground was hard froze a week ago just as 'tis now," said Lige.
"They'd be leavin' no tracks on froze ground."

"They makes the tracks that shows here whether the ground were froze
or not," observed Seth.

"The gravel were loose and dry so 'tweren't froze," explained Lige,
"but away from the dry gravel 'twere all froze, and they'd make no
tracks to show. Leastways that's how I thinks about un."

"That's good logic," said Doctor Joe. "I'm afraid we'll have to find
the rock without the assistance of any tracks to guide us. There will
surely be other signs, however, and we'll look for them while we look
for the rock."

"Suppose now we scatters and looks up along the brook and along the
ridge for the rock the pacin' were done from," suggested Andy. "'Tis
like to be a different lookin' rock from most of un around here or
they wouldn't have picked un."

"And 'tis like to be a big un too," volunteered Micah. "They'd be
pickin' no little rock for that, whatever. I'm thinkin' 'twill be easy
to know un if we sees un."

"Yes," agreed Doctor Joe, "the rock is probably larger or in some
other way noticeably different from the others. It may be along the
brook, or it