d his dunnage bag on
his back and the canoe on his shoulders, and waited for Jack to show the
way. Off they plodded, and in about an hour they came down again to
another fine lake. The guides at once began to make camp, while the
others looked to their sleeping bags and cleared up for the night. By
ten o'clock they were settled for the day, and off they went in their
canoes to try their luck on the new lake. They found it just as full of
fish as the lake they had just left. When they returned at one o'clock
they found that they really had more fish than they could use.

"We'll have to stop fishing for the rest of the day," said Mr. Waterman.
"There's no use catching trout merely to throw them back again."

"Let's climb some mountain this afternoon and have a good swim
afterwards," suggested Mr. Anderson.

After lunch the three boys, with their two mentors, left the camp and
made for the opposite shore of the lake, as the mountain rose up sharply
there. They scrambled up the sides of the mountain and had gotten nearly
to the top when they were startled to see a party of men above them.
When they came out on the top they found the strangers there apparently
waiting for them. Mr. Waterman greeted them pleasantly, but they gave
only gruff answers. They inquired at first very politely what they were
doing there. Mr. Anderson gave them civil answers, but they evidently
did not think that his answers were full enough, so they threw off all
disguise, and the leader said,

"We are Government officials, sent up here to see if there are any more
stations such as Field had down near your camp. It looks rather
suspicious that you should discover this man Field so opportunely. We
already know that food you bought in Escoumains has been found in his
cabin."

"Very true," said Mr. Waterman. "As I explained to Mr. MacPherson, that
was the reason why we went out looking for the thief. It was on that
quest that we found Field and discovered his business. We notified the
Government immediately, which proves that we were honest in the matter."

"Perhaps it does and perhaps it doesn't," was the reply.

"What you do not know is that we had ferreted out Field's accomplices,
and I have no doubt that we would have gotten him in a short time. It is
possible that he knew this and made an arrangement with you to keep him
supplied with grub."

"Nothing of the kind," said Mr. Waterman. "You evidently have not read
the evidence I left with Mr