e, and even then it flopped around in a manner that scared
them a little. The maskalonge was dark gray in color with small
black spots, and measured all of four feet and a half from head
to tail.

"My, but he is a whopper!" cried Shep, as he ran the boat ashore
and surveyed the haul. "No wonder he yanked Giant overboard."

"Giant, you can be proud of such a haul," said Snap. "I guess
he's the king-pin of all the pike in this lake."

"Well, I am proud," answered Giant, with a grin. "Just the same,
I don't relish being pulled overboard for any fish in the lake.
He must weigh something, eh?"

"Fifteen to twenty pounds, I guess," said Snap. "It's too bad we
haven't a scales along."

"Weigh him in his own scales," said Whopper, by way of some fun.

"I wish I could send this fish home to my mother," said the small
youth. "Wouldn't it make her eyes stick out, though!"

"It certainly would, and some other folks would wonder, too,"
answered Shep. "But I don't see how you can do it."

Besides the maskalonge, the boys had caught several pike of fair
size, so they were assured of enough to eat for several days.

"The best thing we can do to-morrow is to find a suitable camping
spot and build a shelter," said Snap. "We don't want to be caught
out in the open again."

The canvas at the tree-top was secured, and that night they slept
between some bushes with this over them to keep off the night
air. Each of the young hunters took his turn at watching, but
nothing came to disturb them, although Whopper declared that he
heard several foxes not far off.

"I thought they were going to pay us a visit, but when they were
about two hundred feet away they took a turn and that was the last
I heard of them."

On the following morning the young hunters were in the act of
embarking in their rowboat, for a tour around the shore of Firefly
Lake, when Shep pointed out a small canoe coming swiftly toward
them. In the craft sat a man of middle age, with thick hair and
a heavy beard.

"Who can it be?" questioned Whopper.

"Perhaps it is one of the Felps crowd---to warn us away," spoke up
Giant. "If it is, I'm rather for giving him a piece of our mind."

"It is Jed Sanborn!" cried Shep. "He must be out to do a little
hunting or fishing on his own account."

Jed Sanborn was a character well known to the people of the district
surrounding the lakes. He was a hunter and trapper and had been all
his life. He was a bachelo