at another of our gallant band came within an ace of being
terribly bitten by a savage wild beast."

"Please explain what it's all about," begged Tom. "You see Jack and I
were away pretty much all day. You and Sandy went off with Tolly Tip,
didn't you, to see how he managed his traps? Was it then the terrible
thing happened?"

"It was," said Bluff, with a chuckle. "You see Tolly Tip kept on
explaining everything as we went from trap to trap, and both of us
learned heaps this morning. Finally, we came to the marsh and there a
muskrat trap held a big, ferocious animal by the hind leg."

"You see," Sandy broke in, as though anxious to show off his knowledge
of the art of trapping, "as a rule the rat is drowned, which saves the
skin from being mangled. But this one stayed up on the bank instead of
jumping off when caught in the trap. Now go on, Bluff."

"Sandy accidentally got a mite too close to the beast," continued the
other. "First thing I knew I heard a snarl, and then Sandy jumped
back, with the teeth of the muskrat clinging to the elbow of his coat
sleeve. An inch further and our chum'd have been badly bitten. It was
a mighty narrow escape, let me tell you."

"Another thing that would interest you, Paul," Bluff went on to say,
"was the beaver house we saw in the pond the animals had made when
they built a dam across the creek, a mile above here."

"Beavers around this section too!" exclaimed Jud, as though it almost
took his breath away.

"Only wan little colony," explained Tolly Tip.

"I'd give something to get a picture of real, live beavers, at their
work," Paul remarked.

"Thin ye'll have till come up this way nixt spring time, whin they do
be friskin' around like young lambs," the woodsman told him. "Jist now
they do be snug in their winter quarters, and ye'll not see a speck av
thim. If it's the house ye want to take a picture av, the chance is
yours any day ye see fit."

After supper was over Jack and Tom took a look at the new bunks.

"A bully job, fellows!" declared the latter, "and one that does you
credit. Why, every one of us is now fitted with a coffin. And I see we
can sleep without danger of rolling out, since you've fixed a slat
across the front of each bunk."

"Taken as a whole," Frank announced, "I think the scouts have done
pretty well for their first day at Camp Garrity. Don't you, fellows?
Plenty of fish and venison in the locker, all these bunks built, lots
of valuable information