y shrewd guess
what your answer will be."

Of course this sort of talk aroused a good deal of curiosity in both
Tom Chesner and Rob Shaefer, and they impatiently awaited the coming of
the scout master.

"And now I'll explain," Mr. Henderson told them, when he found three
eager pairs of eyes fastened on him. "I chanced to be about half a mile
away from home an hour before noon to-day when I heard angry voices,
and discovered that several persons were about to pass by, following a
trail that leads straight into the worst bog around the foot of Big
Bear Mountain."

"I warrant you that it must have been the four young rascals who robbed
our camp, that you saw," ventured Mr. Witherspoon.

"I know now that it was as you say," continued the other. "At the time
I might have called out and warned them of the peril that lay in wait
for them if they should continue along that misleading trail, but when
I looked at their faces, and heard a little of the vile language they
used, I determined that it would be a very unwise thing for me to let
them know I lived so near."

"And you allowed them to go on past, you mean, sir?" questioned Mr.
Witherspoon.

"Yes, I regret to confess it now," came the reply, "but at the time it
seemed to be simply ordinary caution on my part. Besides, how was I to
know they would pay the slightest heed to anything I might say? I did
not like their looks. But since then I've had grave doubts about the
wisdom of my course, and was more than half inclined to start out, lame
though I am, to see whether they did get off the only safe trail, and
lose themselves in the bog."

"Is it then so dangerous?" asked Mr. Witherspoon; while Tom was saying
to himself that perhaps the chance so ardently desired by poor Carl
might be coming at last.

"There are places where it might be death itself to any one who got off
the trail, and became bewildered. The mud is deceptive, and once one
gets fast in it an hour or two is apt to see him swallowed up; nor will
his fate ever be known, for the bottomless mire of the bog never
discloses its secrets."

Tom drew a long breath.

"If you will show us the way there, sir," he told the naturalist, "we
will certainly accompany you."

CHAPTER XXIII

INTO THE BIG BOG

"Is it worth our while to bother with that crowd, Tom?" asked Josh,
with a look approaching disgust on his face.

One lad waited to hear what reply the patrol leader would make with
more or less ea