ern. With a sharp hunting knife they carved off as much bear's meat
as they thought they could carry. Several of the steaks were fried for
breakfast, and the rest were packed on the sleds.

In little more than an hour after daybreak the party were on the march.
Through slushy snow and a drizzle of raw, misty rain, they tramped back
to the clearing.

Two days had elapsed since Brick's abduction, and, of course, no traces
were visible. Nor had Sparwick expected to find any. He merely used the
spot as a starting point. Thence he led his companions northward, and
during the morning they explored all sorts of secluded nooks in the
vicinity of the lake shore.

At noonday, when the sky cleared and the bitter cold came on, they
crossed Chesumcook, and conducted a rigorous search on the farther
side. Here they met with no better success. About three o'clock
Sparwick declared that most of the likely hiding-places had been looked
into.

"It's queer what has become of the rascals," he said. "I'm inclined ter
think they've struck south, so we'll try that tack next. No use in
tryin' that direction," and he pointed his long arm eastward. "Over thar
stretches a swamp fur miles an' miles. It's full of wild beasts, an' it
ain't possible fur a man to go through it. I never heard of a hunter or
trapper what was in the place. They're all afraid of it."

Jerry and Hamp did not dispute this, for they were familiar with the
swamp's evil reputation.

The anxious searchers pushed on through a wild and rugged country until
sundown. They were then, as nearly as they could judge, several miles
southeast from the lower end of Chesumcook Lake.

They camped in a spruce thicket on the edge of a meadow. By means of a
fire and a lean-to they defied the cold, and spent a fairly comfortable
night.

Breakfast was prepared, and eaten amid a gloomy constraint. When the
luggage was packed, Sparwick lit his pipe, and sat down on a log facing
his companions.

"This is a queer business," he said. "I ain't denyin' that I've kinder
lost my bearin's. We've sarched purty near every place whar them fellers
would likely hev gone with the lad. It looks now as though they had
struck out of the woods. There's a railroad settlement about
twenty-five miles from here--a bit of a place called Kingman."

"But would they take Brick there with them?" asked Hamp.

Sparwick shook his head.

"It ain't likely they'd run such a risk."

"Then they must have murdered B