's as dark as pitch."

"Here are two pegs," said the doctor. "I wonder if I can stir up that
fire," he added, starting to where the campfire had been. The fire was
out, and the sheet-iron stove lay over on its side, with a mess of beans
overturned in the oven. To light a new fire under existing circumstances
was out of the question, and the medical man went back to assist the
boys.

The tent had hardly been secured when there came a great flurry of snow
which almost blinded them. Randy had been for running down to the lake,
but now he crawled under the canvas and hesitated. In the meantime Dr.
Barwaithe set the stove up once more and tried to rescue such of the
beans as were worth it.

"The rain is giving way to snow--" began Earl, when he stopped short, as
a faint shout reached them through the whistling wind. "It's Uncle's
voice! We are wanted down there!" he added, and started off on a run. As
the cry was repeated Randy followed. A minute's run and they reached the
beach a hundred feet above where Captain Zoss and Foster Portney were
standing.

"What's the matter?" demanded Earl, quickly.

"The boat is gone," was his uncle's alarming reply. "She has drifted off
in the storm, and we can't catch sight of her anywhere!"

CHAPTER XVII.

A HUNT FOR FOOD.

Randy and Earl were much dismayed by their uncle's announcement. The
_Wild Goose_ had disappeared! Where to? Ah, that was the question. In
vain they tried to pierce the darkness of the night and the snow-squall.
Nothing in the shape of a craft could be discerned upon the broad waters
of Lake Bennett.

"I told ye to mind how ye tied up that yere craft," growled Captain
Zoss, wrathfully, to Earl. "Any lubber could have tied her up better
than you did."

"You expect me to do everything!" retorted Earl, beginning to lose his
temper, too. "I did the best I could. Why didn't you look after it?"

"He was too busy taking it easy by the fire," put in Randy, bound to
stand up for his brother, as well as to put in a "shot" for himself.

"None o' your impudence, boy!" roared the captain, and he turned as if
to strike Randy. But now Foster Portney caught his arm and threw it
back.

"Stop it, all of you!" said he. "This is no time to quarrel. The wind,
and not Earl, is responsible for this, for I looked to the tying up
myself, after he was done. We're all out of sorts, but we needn't act
like children over it. Our duty is to find the boat, and that as quickly