ey went hunting together. The lion took up his
station at the mouth of the cave where some goats had hidden, while the
donkey went in; and made all sorts of terrible noises, braying. So the
goats ran out, and the lion killed as many as he wanted. When the donkey
came out he asked his partner if he had done the job in good shape.
'Fine,' said the lion, 'and you would have frightened me too, if I
hadn't known that you were only a donkey.' And that's the way with us,
fellows; we were on to the game in advance, or some of us might have
taken to our heels too."

"Here, that sounds mighty much like you were calling me a donkey,"
remarked Davy, trying to display a certain amount of offended dignity.

"Oh! not in the least," laughed Thad.

"If the shoe fits, put it on," jeered Giraffe. "You know they say that
wherever you see smoke, there's sure to be fire."

"Not much there ain't," burst out Bumpus, with a grin. "I've seen
_heaps_ of smoke started, without a sign of a blaze," and Giraffe
subsided into silence knowing what was meant.

"Did you get a good picture, Davy?" asked Thad, as they once more
settled down around the fire.

"Seemed like it to me," was the reply. "It was just when you were all
laughing at what Eli here was saying. He had his hand up, like he was
going to smack it down in the palm of the other, to emphasize a telling
point in his story. Say, wouldn't it be a great stunt now, if, when I
developed that plate, I found a face sticking out of the bushes across
yonder; and Jim here recognized it as belonging to that big terror of
the pine woods, Cale Martin!"

"Say, that would be just great!" ejaculated Step Hen; and all eyes were
turned toward Jim; but that worthy made no remark, though he must have
surely heard what was said.

As the evening grew on apace Thad was watching for the chance he wanted,
to get a few words in private with the younger guide. Jim somehow had
interested Thad from the start. He never said anything about himself or
his folks; but somehow the young patrol leader had been drawn toward
Jim. He believed the fellow to be a sturdy chap, clean and honest as any
guide ever employed by big game hunters in the Maine woods. And now that
it began to appear that there was a little mystery attached to his past,
of course Thad felt a deeper interest in Jim than ever.

Perhaps it was accident that took Jim off after a while; he may have
just wanted to smoke his pipe alone, and ponder on the str