flat on his
back, with Snap on top of him. In the meantime the other boys
caught hold of Dick Bush.

"We must get at the bottom of this," said Snap. "Something is
wrong here, that is certain."

"It wasn't my plan," whined Dick Bush, who seemed to be more cowardly
than his companion. "I---I didn't do hardly anything."

"Well, you can't blame it on me," retorted Carl Dudder.

"Maybe it was Ham Spink's plan," suggested Whopper.

"It was."

"And what did you do?"

"Hid your stuff on you," said Dick Bush, in a low tone.

"Anything else?"

"Well, we---er---we took a little meat and had some dinner while
we were over there."

After that the two dudish boys confessed what had been done, laying
the greater part of the blame on the others of their party. Snap
and his chums were rightly indignant.

"We ought to duck you in the lake and then have you locked up,"
said Snap. "It is what you deserve."

"No, no!" came with a shiver from Dick Bush. "Let us off, and I'll
pay my share of the damage done."

"It isn't a question of money," said Shep. "It's your utter meanness."

The wind was now blowing so violently that the boys began to grow
alarmed, and after a brief talk, Snap and his chums decided to
follow Bush and Dodder to their camp, taking their guns with them.
The deer were hung up in some trees, out of the reach of other animals.

The coming of Snap and his friends to the rival camp produced
another stormy scene, and for awhile it looked as if there would
be an open fight. The young hunters "laid down the law" good
and hard, and Ham Spink and his crowd were much alarmed in consequence.

"You had no right to touch our things, and I could have you arrested
for it," said Snap. "Now our boat is gone, I am going to claim yours
until we get ours back."

"That ain't fair!" cried Ham Spink.

"It has got to be fair," answered Snap, stubbornly.

"Most of our stores are gone, too," growled the dudish youth.

"That isn't our fault."

"Will you---er---will you sell us one of your deer?" faltered
another of the crowd.

"If you absolutely need it, yes; otherwise, no," said Shep.

"Yes, we need it. We are almost cleaned out of everything."

"One of you has got to go with us," said Snap, a moment later.

"What for?"

"To show us where our things are."

"We'll tell you where they are," said several. They were afraid
to cross the lake in such a wind.

The secret was revealed, and a few minutes later