On the way back Jerry shot a brace of spruce partridges, and these made
a savory supper, varied with two fresh pickerel which Hamp snared
through a hole in the ice.

A blazing fire was made at the mouth of the tunnel, and here the meal
was cooked and eaten.

Jerry's prediction as to the weather had come true. No rain was
falling, and the air was much crisper and colder. By nine o'clock the
stars were shining from a steel-blue sky.

The boys went to bed early, so as to be fresh for the morrow's journey.
They rose at daybreak, hurried down a cold breakfast, and packed the
sleds. This was a task that required some skill, for the ordinary
luggage was augmented by the catamount's skin and the antlers of the
buck.

Then, with feelings of mingled regret and pleasure, the boys looked
their last on the snug little cabin where they had witnessed such
stirring scenes, and crawled through the tortuous passages of the
tunnel, dragging the sleds behind them. They strapped on their
snowshoes, and started directly across the lake.

The walking was mostly over smooth ice, though here and there was a
formidable snowdrift piled up by an eddying wind.

The distant line of forest gradually became more distinct, and an hour
before noon the young travelers reached the eastern shore of Moosehead
Lake. They were not more than two miles from the upper end, and after a
brief consultation, they decided to push straight on for Chesumcook
Lake, which was about twenty miles away.

"You will like the neighborhood," Jerry assured Brick. "Game is plenty,
and there are lots of good camping-places. Chesumcook is an awful long
lake, only it's narrow. The Penobscot River flows out of it."

Brick was willing to do anything that his companions proposed, so they
plunged into the fragrant spruce woods, and pushed rapidly over the
crusted snow.

At the end of two or three miles a range of pretty steep hills were
encountered, and after dragging the sleds over one of the ridges, the
boys were badly winded. They trudged on at a slower rate of speed,
making wide detours to reach a gap whenever such a plan was feasible.

About midafternoon they found themselves traversing a narrow and
heavily-timbered valley. Through the center brawled a noisy torrent that
was too swift to freeze. On either side rose steep, pine-clad hills.

"There ought to be some small game hereabouts," said Jerry. "It's soon
time to look up a camping-place for the night, and I'm hungr