wilderness.”

“That is just it, Dick. Open foes I can stand, because you know what to expect; but it gives me a creep to think of some unknown person standing ready to stab us in the dark, or when our backs are turned. Perhaps, after all, we did wrong to decide on staying with Captain Lewis and Captain Clark, when we might have gone on home with Mayhew, carrying that precious paper.”

“Oh! I wouldn’t look at it that way, Roger,” said the other, striving to cheer him up, for Roger was subject to sudden fits of depression. “Just think of all the wonderful things we have seen while here; and then remember that there are still other strange sights awaiting us in the Land of the Setting Sun.”

“Yes, that’s so, Dick, and both of us decided that the chance to look upon the great ocean was one not to be lightly cast aside.”

“We’ve been lucky so far,” Dick told his chum, “and succeeded in everything we have undertaken; so even this new trouble mustn’t upset us. By keeping a sharp lookout we can expect to learn who the traitor is, and after that he will be forced to leave the party. And if that Lascelles is around here again he will have to look out for himself. Anyhow,” he added after a pause, “we have gone too far now to turn back, no matter whether we made a mistake or not.”

“Yes, and as my father used to say,” continued Roger, “‘what can’t be cured must be endured.’ We have made our bed, and must lie in it, no matter how hard it may seem. I’m going to believe just as you do, Dick—that the same kind fate that has always watched over us in times past is still on duty.”

He glanced upward toward the blue sky as he said this, and Dick knew what he intended to imply; for boys in those days were reared in a religious atmosphere in their humble homes, and early learned to “trust in the Lord; but keep their powder dry,” as the Puritan Fathers used to do.

“Our fathers often had to meet situations just as dangerous as any that can come to us,” continued Dick, “and they grappled them boldly and came off victorious. So, from now on, we’ll devote ourselves to finding out whose was the unseen hand that held the knife with which our hide boat was slashed so cleverly.”

“How far are we from camp, do you think, Dick?”

“As the crow flies it may be five miles, though we came further than that on the river,” the other boy replied without any hesitation, showing how completely he kept all these things in his mind, to be utilized on short notice.

“We came down with a swift current,” Roger admitted, “and it hardly seemed as if we could have been an hour on the way. It will take us some time to tramp back to camp, even if we take a short-cut to avoid the bends in the river.”

“What of that,” asked Dick, “since we expected to spend a good part of the day in paddling up the stream, after shooting the rapids? But, if you are dry enough now, I think we had better make a start.”

“Suppose we drag the boat into these bushes first, Dick,” suggested Roger.

“Not a bad idea either, for some passing Indian might think it worth while to mend the hole and carry the boat off. We would like to have Captain Lewis take a look at that knife mark, so as to prove our story. He trusts all his men, and it is going to make him feel badly to know that one among them has sold himself to an enemy.”

Between them they carried the hide canoe in among the bushes, where it was easily hidden away. Of course any one seeking it would readily find its hiding-place; but at least it could not be seen by the ordinary passer-by.

Having accomplished this, the two lads set forth to cover the ground lying between their landing place on the shore of the river, below the rapids, and the camp of the explorers.

They anticipated no trouble in finding their goal, because of their familiarity with woods life. Besides, in their numerous hunting trips during the past winter they had covered nearly all the territory around that region, so that the chances of their getting lost were small indeed.

“We may run across game on the way back, don’t you think, Dick?” suggested Roger, just after they had left the ashes of their late fire, which had been dashed with water before they quitted the scene.

“You never can tell,” came the reply; “there is always a chance to sight a deer in this country. We got a number, you remember, within three miles of camp while the snow was deep on the ground. And already I have noticed signs telling that they use this section for feeding on the early shoots of grass.”

“Yes,” added Roger, “tracks there have been in plenty. And as I live! see here, where this tuft of reddish hair has caught on a pointed piece of bark. I warrant you some buck rubbed himself against this tree good and hard. I would like to have been within gunshot of the rascal just then, for the marks are fresh, and I think they were made this very morning.”

This gave the two boys hope that they might at any minute run across the deer and bring him down with a lucky shot. As fresh venison was always welcome in the camp, such a possibility as this always spurred them on to do their best. They liked to hear the cheery voice of Captain Lewis telling them frankly that it had been a fortunate thing for the whole expedition when he tempted Dick and Roger to remain and see the enterprise through.

“Listen! what is all that noise ahead of us?” asked Roger, as a sudden burst of snarling and half-suppressed howling was borne to their ears.

“Wolves, as sure as you live!” exclaimed Dick, frowning, for if there was one animal upon which he disliked to waste any of his precious ammunition, that beast was a wolf.

Ordinarily these animals are not to be feared when met singly, or even in pairs; but, during the winter and early spring, they gather in packs, in order to hunt the better for food, and at such times even the boldest hunter dislikes running across them.

“They are certainly on the track of something,” suggested Roger, as he listened, and then, shrugging his broad shoulders, he continued. “Like as not, it is that buck we were hoping to run across. A plague on the pests! If I had my way, and could spare the ammunition, I’d shoot every one of the lot!”

“Little good that would do,” Dick told him; “because they run to thousands upon thousands out on the plains and in the mountains where we are heading. A dozen or two would be no more than a grain of sand on that seashore we hope to set eyes on before snow flies again.”

“But listen to them carrying on, Dick,” continued the other, with growing excitement. “Come to think of it, I never heard wolves make those queer sounds when chasing a deer. You know they yap like dogs, and almost bark. These beasts are acting like those creatures did when they had me caught up in a tree, with my gun on the ground.”

“Yes, I remember the time well enough,” chuckled Dick. “You were mighty glad to see a fellow of my heft, too, when I came along. Twenty hours up a tree is no joke, when you’ve got a healthy appetite in the bargain. But, just as you say, Roger, there is something queer about the way they are carrying on.”

“They’re not chasing anything now, that’s certain,” asserted the other positively; “because the sounds keep coming from the same place all the time. Dick, perhaps the beasts may have some one treed for all we know. They are savage with hunger, and would just as soon make a meal off a hunter, red or white, as off a deer or a wounded