"Struck a gold mine?" queried Whopper.

"We had a visitor last night."

"A visitor?" cried the others, in a chorus.

"Yes. That must have been the noise Snap heard."

"I knew I heard something," murmured Snap. "But what kind of a visitor did we have?"

"A four-legged one," answered Giant. "He rooted among our stores for something to eat."

"Some animal!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Whopper. "It's a wonder he didn't try to chew us all up. Is anything gone?"

"Is anything gone? Well, I rather guess?"

"All the fish for one thing!"

"And the rabbits and turkey!"

"And that crust of bread!"

"And about half of the sugar!"

The young hunters gazed about in consternation. Evidently the visitor had rooted around their stores to his heart's content.

"Do you know what I think it was?" came from Shep.

"A fox?"

"Worse than that."

"You don't mean a bear, do you?" queried Whopper, with a shiver, and a hasty glance over his shoulder.

"Yes; and there he is!" shouted Snap, and ran for the trees.

Helter-skelter the others came after him, Whopper pitching headlong in his flight.

"Hi! hi! Save me!" roared the fallen one. "Don't---don't let the bear chew me up!"

"Where is the bear?" demanded little Giant, catching up his gun.

Then he looked at Snap, who was grinning broadly. "You're fooling!

Boys, it was only a joke!"

"A joke?" spluttered Whopper. "Do---do you mean to say there is no bear?"

"Not here. But there may have been one last night."

"Snap Dodge, you ought to be---be hung, drawn and quartered, and tarred and feathered in the bargain," said Whopper, severely.

"it's an outrage to---to-----"

"Let it drop, Whopper. Seriously, though, some wild animal has been here and eaten up part of our stores. The question is, could it have been a bear?"

"Let us look around for tracks," put in Giant, and got down on his hands and knees. The others began the hunt also, and soon they came upon some large tracks, leading deep into the woods and up the rocks beyond.

"It was certainly a bear," said Snap, and now his voice had something of seriousness in it. "Boys, I must say I don't like this."

"No more do I," answered Shep. "Why, that bear might have killed us all while we slept!"

"It's queer he didn't visit us," put in Giant.

"I don't know but what he did," said Snap. "Perhaps he woke me up and then ran away. I certainly heard something or felt something."

"This is enough to give one the creeps," was Whopper's comment. "I don't want to sleep where there are bears to crawl over one."

"Somebody will have to remain on guard after this until we get some sort of a shelter built," said Shep, and so it was agreed.

"I am going to build a bear trap, too," said Giant. "An old hunter from the West was telling me of the kind some Indians make. You take some logs and build a sort of raft of them and place it on the ground where the bear is likely to come. You raise one corner of the raft up and fix a couple of sticks under it, each fastened to another stick with a strong cord. On the cord you fasten the bait, and then on the top of the raft you pile some heavy stones.

When the bear comes he tries to get at the bait, but the only way he can get under the logs and stones is by dropping down on his side. He works his way in, pulls on the bait, and down come the logs and stones on top of him holding him fast and most likely killing him."

"That's an idea! We'll make such a trap sure!" cried Whopper.

That day was a busy one for all hands. To do as much work as possible on the shelter, only a few hours were spent in hunting and fishing. But their luck was good and long before noon they had a dozen fish to their credit and also half a dozes rabbits, a wild turkey, three squirrels and some small birds.

"There, that will keep us going for a while," declared Snap. "Now let us turn all our attention to the cabin, so we can get away from Mr.

Bear, if necessary."

It was no easy matter to chop down the five trees to a height of about eight feet, but once this was done cabin building began in earnest, and by nightfall they had a rude roof over the posts and had the back logged up to a height of four feet. The next day they went at the task at sunrise, finishing the back and putting in the two sides, one with a slit of a window, over which they nailed some slats, so that nothing of size might get through.

"Now this begins to look like something," declared Shep. "I am afraid the front with a door, though, is going to bother us."

"We'll work it somehow," answered Snap, confidently.

In a few days the cabin was complete and it must be confessed that the young hunters were quite proud of their work. They made a sort of mud plaster and with this filled up the c.h.i.n.ks between the logs, and the roof they thatched with bark, so as to keep out the rain. The floor they covered with pine boughs, piling the boughs high up at the back for a big couch upon which all might rest at night. They also made a split-log bench and a rude table, from which they might eat when the weather drove them indoors.

But they were not equal to building a chimney, and so continued to do their cooking outdoors.

It was well that they hurried their cabin, for the day after it was completed a heavy and cold rain set in, lasting forty-eight hours. Fortunately they had a fair supply of fish and game on hand, so n.o.body had to go forth while the elements raged. They built a camp-fire close to the doorway of the cabin---under a sort of piazza top, and there took turns at cooking, and made themselves as comfortable as possible.

"This isn't so pleasant," said Whopper, as he gazed out at the rain. "I hope it doesn't last long."

"Well, we have got to take the weather as it comes," said Shep, philosophically. "We can't expect the sun to shine every day."

"I'd like it to rain during the night and be clear in the daytime."

"Want your weather made to order," laughed Giant.

Fortunately the boys had brought along several books and games.

They had agreed that the books should be read only in bad weather, and the games played only when they could not go out, and now these pastimes came in very handy. They had checkers and dominos, and a new card game that was just then "all the rage." When night came they turned in early and slept soundly, the fear of the bear no longer troubling them.