e you all over to my house to-night, to tell you,"
explained Sheppard. "But I might as well speak of it when we are
together on the river."

"Say, you must have something wonderful on your mind!" cried Whopper.
"I'm dying by inches to know what it is. I'll find Giant somehow,
and have him at the dock inside of a quarter of an hour sure." And
away he ran on his errand, while the youth who had the important
announcement to make turned in the direction of the water-front.

To those who have read the former volumes in this "_Boy Hunters
Series_" the lads who have been speaking will need no further
introduction. For the benefit of others let me state that Sheppard
Reed was the son of a doctor who had a large practice in and around
the town of Fairview. Shep, as he was usually called, was a bright
and manly youth, and one who loved life out of doors.

Frank Dawson was a lad who had moved to the town some years before,
and by his winning manner had made himself many friends. The boy
had a habit of exaggerating when telling anything, and this had
earned for him the nickname of Whopper---even though Frank never
told anything in the shape of a deliberate falsehood. As some
of his friends said, "you could tell Frank's whoppers a mile off,"
which was a pretty stiff "whopper" in itself.

These two boys had two close chums, Charley Dodge, usually called
Snap---why nobody could tell---and Will Caslette, known as Giant,
because of his small stature. Charley, or Snap, as I shall call him,
was the son of one of the richest men of the district, his father
owning a part interest in a sawmill and a large summer hotel,
besides many acres of valuable forest and farm lands. Giant was
the son of a widow who had once been poor but was now in
comfortable circumstances. Though small for his age, the lad was
as manly as any of his chums, and they thought the world of the
little fellow.

The town of Fairview was a small but prosperous community, located
on the Rocky River, ten miles above a sheet of water known as Lake
Cameron. The place boasted of a score of stores, several churches,
a volunteer fire department, and a railroad station---the latter
a spot of considerable activity during the summer months.

All of the boys loved to camp out, and about a year before this tale
opens had organized an outing or gun club, as related in detail in
the volume called "_Four Boy Hunters_." They journeyed to the shores
of Lake Cameron and th