was, a camp-cook and general worker.

"Hello!" he exclaimed, as Dave hurried in out of the rain and shook
the water from his cap. "I thought you were one of our crowd."

"What camp is this?" questioned our hero, eagerly.

"Well, it ain't no camp in particular," answered the man, with a grin.
"It's jest a camp."

"But who is stopping here?"

"Three young fellers and myself."

"Are their names Beggs, Lawrence, and Basswood?"

"You've struck it. Maybe you are a friend to 'em?" went on the man,
inquiringly.

"I am, and I have come a long distance to find them," returned Dave,
and his tone of voice showed his relief. "Where are they?"

"They left the camp right after dinner an' they ain't back yet. When
you called I thought it was one of 'em, although they didn't expect to
be back much before supper-time. But now it's rainin' I guess they'll
come back sooner."

"How long have they been here?"

"Most a week now, I guess. I didn't come till day before yesterday. I
didn't have nothin' to do an' they give me a job, cookin' an' like
that," returned the man.

He invited Dave to make himself at home, and our hero was glad enough
to go inside and take off the wet raincoat and also his shoes and
socks. The baggage belonging to Phil and the others was in the cabin,
and he helped himself to dry garments and a dry pair of slippers.

"We are all school chums," he told the man. "My name is Dave Porter."

"Oh, I heard 'em talkin' about you!" cried the camp-worker, and then
said his own name was Jerry Blutt, and that he was from Tegley, just
across the Canadian border.

"We are not far from the border here, are we?" asked our hero.

"About six miles, thet's all," answered Jerry Blutt, and this reply
gave Dave another idea. More than likely Buster and the others had
chosen this spot so that, if pursued by the officers of the law, they
could flee into Canada.

Jerry Blutt said the three lads had spent their time in various ways,
occasionally going fishing and swimming. They had also written some
letters and gone to the railroad station to mail them in the box
placed there for that purpose.

"Have they been having a good time?" asked Dave, curiously.

"I can't say as to that, Mr. Porter. They did seem mighty worried over
something," answered the camp worker, and from this our hero felt
certain that the man had not been let into the secret of why the
runaways were there at all.

Half an hour went by and it continued t