r Run."

Those readers who have followed the fortunes of Frank and his three
wide-awake comrades in previous stories have of course come to look on
them as old friends, and need no further introduction. As there may be
some, however, who are now making their acquaintance for the first
time it may be well to mention a few things connected with their past,
as well as to explain why they were now bound for a new camping ground
in a region they had never before visited.

Naturally, they knew every foot of country for many miles around
Centerville. They had roamed over Oak Ridge and the Sunset Mountains,
camped on Wildcat Island, situated in Camelot Lake, and scoured the
region roundabout.

More than this, wonderful opportunities had come to these boys to
visit distant parts of the States. On one occasion they had taken a
trip South, going to the Gulf of Mexico. Another time it had been a
visit to the Rocky Mountains where they hunted big game. Then, on a
houseboat belonging to an eccentric uncle of Will's, they voyaged down
the great Mississippi River to New Orleans, meeting with numerous
adventures on the way.

When they returned home after their first year at college, of course
the regular question came up immediately: "Where shall we go for the
next outing? because we must get into the woods somehow, and live
close to Nature for a spell, to fish, and take pictures, and just
forget all our troubles."

Many ideas were suggested, but it remained for Bluff Masters to bring
up the most catching plan. By some means he had heard of a place a
good many miles away from their home town where the big lake lay for
many miles between the hills.

Here he had been told by one who knew that they would be apt to find
the seclusion they sought, since few people lived in that section of
country. Small game was plentiful enough to give Will all the fun he
wanted in laying his traps, in order that raccoons and opossums and
foxes might be coaxed to snap off their own pictures.

Fishing ought to be good in the waters of the inland sea, and all of
them professed to be ardent disciples of the hook and line. In fact,
Bluff laid out such an alluring programme that he actually carried the
others by storm.

Accordingly, preparations were made to go to the distant lake. Frank,
as was his habit, did everything in his power to pick up information
concerning the lay of the land. He even made up a sort of map, based
on what he was able to lear