mile, perhaps half of that, ought to take us to the water," he
was assured by Phil; "and you see we are coming in from the west, which
is all right, too, because my land lies on the western shore; and that
cabin must be somewhere just ahead of us."

"Hurrah!" shouted Ethan, unable to keep from giving expression to his
delight any longer.

The others felt pretty much the same way, and joined in a series of
joyous whoops.

"Now, everybody put his best foot forward, and we'll soon be there,"
urged Phil; "the worst is behind us, you know."

"That's a heap better than having it yet to come!" declared X-Ray,
feeling that with the goal in sight he should be able to hold out.

They plodded along for some eight minutes or more, frequently catching
glimpses of the lake beyond, and knowing that they were rapidly
approaching its border. All at once X-Ray gave a cry.

"Tell me, what is that I can see over there, Phil; looks for all the
world like a shack made of silver birches! See how the sun shines on its
side, will you? Is that your cabin, do you think, Phil?"

"Just what it must be, X-Ray," the other told him; "they've nailed birch
bark all over the sides of the log hut, you see, just to make it look
rustic."

"Then we'll have to call it Birch Bark Lodge!" burst out Lub, who had a
little vein of the romantic in his disposition.

"That sounds good to me!" declared Ethan.

"It goes, then, does it?" asked the delighted Lub, beginning to believe
he must be waking up, to have any suggestion of his so quickly and
favorably seized upon.

"Sure thing," said X-Ray Tyson. "Hurrah for Birch Bark Lodge, the home
in the wilderness of the Mountain Boys."

"Don't be too quick to settle that sort of thing," advised the more
cautious Phil. "For all we know there may be somebody ahead of us in the
shack; and you know we couldn't well chase 'em out."

"But see here, Phil, if the cabin stands on your ground of course it's
your property by right of law, no matter whoever built the shack in the
start. He was only a squatter at the best," and Lub looked wise when he
laid down this principle in common law which is often so exceedingly
difficult to practice in the backwoods, where right of possession is
nine points of the law.

"Yes," Phil told him, "but there's always a rule in the woods that
governs cases like this, no matter who owns the land. First come, first
served. If we find that shack occupied by some sportsmen and their
guide