ting off for camp as Walter had done some thirty minutes before.
But Stacy failed to observe the figure of a man near by as the boy
stepped out on the plain. This figure followed along behind him at a
safe distance, the man chuckling to himself as he watched the boy and
the bag. The mysterious stranger was the Ranger lieutenant.

Reaching the silent camp, Stacy slunk in, apparently seeking to avoid
being seen. The grinning lieutenant saw the boy slip cautiously to
the tent occupied by the sleeping Rangers. There the fat boy very
carefully deposited his 'possum bag, first having opened the mouth of
it, after which he slipped away to his own tent and crawled into bed.
But Stacy did not go to sleep at once. He lay there listening,
gazing up at the roof of the tent through which he could make out the
faint light of the sky.

Some twenty minutes elapsed when the boy sat up, thinking he had heard
a sound from the other tent. This became a certainty just a few
minutes later when a great uproar arose in the tent of the Rangers.
Loud voices were heard, threats and shouts. The hundred and fifty-eight
varieties of bugs that the fat boy had brought in in his 'possum bag,
were getting in their deadly work on the persons of the Rangers.
Chunky had turned the tables on his tormentors most beautifully.

CHAPTER XII

INSECTS WIN THE BATTLE

The Rangers, slapping, scratching and fighting against the armies of
insects that were crawling over them, had finally got out of bed and
gone out of doors to sleep. But there was no rest there either.
Their bodies were covered with ants and fleas, all with
well-developed biters---and they bit!

At first the Rangers did not realize the trick that had been played
upon them. One who went back to the tent for his hat discovered the
burlap sack that had been used in the 'possum hunt. He brought it out,
holding it up before his companions. The Rangers eyed the bag, then
gazed at each other solemnly.

"Stung!" groaned Dippy.

"Bitten, you mean," answered Cad Morgan.

"Which one played that low-down trick on us?" demanded Pete Quash
angrily.

"I reckon it was Fatty," said Polly. "He's the one that would have
thought of a thing like that. I reckon there must have been a million
of those bugs crawling over me."

"I'll tell you what, fellows. Let's get Fatty out and tie the sack
over his head. We'll give him a dose of his own medicine," proposed
Dippy. "We can't stand for