ill be good feed. I advise you to make out a list of what you
will want."

"I will do so."

"But we need not buy everything we want. The lake is full of fish, and
I know just where to catch them."

"That's first rate," added Tom, with enthusiasm. "But it will take a
heap of fish to feed all the fellows."

"I have caught a boat-load of lake bass and salmon trout in a day. I
will agree to catch fish enough to feed the crowd for a week. But the
fellows will want something besides fish to eat. Potatoes are cheap,
and so are pork and bacon."

"When shall we start?"

"The sooner we go the better. We have no time to spare. There is a
good wind now, and we may not have it much longer. I will land you at
Cannondale in an hour; and if the breeze holds, we shall return by
nine o'clock."

Tom Rush went to the treasurer to procure the funds he had collected,
and hastened down to the Splash; but before the commissary joined me,
a messenger came from Vallington to inform me that the lookouts on the
bluff at the southerly end of the island had discovered a boat pulling
towards the camp. I had a small spy-glass in one of the lockers of the
Splash, with which I repaired to the bluff, to ascertain who the
intended visitors could be.

"I suppose that boat bodes trouble to the camp," said the leader.

"I think it does, for it contains Mr. Parasyte and Deputy Sheriff
Greene," I replied, after examining the boat through the glass.

CHAPTER XIV.

IN WHICH ERNEST IS WAITED UPON BY A DEPUTY SHERIFF.

We had no means of knowing the object of Mr. Parasyte's visit to Camp
Fair Play--whether he was coming to make a treaty of peace, or to
declare and carry on the war. The boat in which he was approaching was
a hired one, rowed by the two men who worked for him. His force was
sufficient to do us a great deal of mischief; and the questions as to
what he would, and what he could do, were full of interest to us. Four
men are a formidable force to any number of boys; and the fact that
Sheriff Greene was one of the party added to the seriousness of the
visitation.

"What can they do?" asked Vallington. "We can at least prepare for
possibilities."

"They can take the boats from us," answered Bob Hale, "and leave us
here to be starved into submission."

"It would be awkward to be obliged to return to the academy like
whipped puppies; but I suppose we could be starved into it."

"We will look out for that," I added.

"How can y