Page:The Outdoor Chums.djvu/123

Rh even followed us up here, and has tried to even," suggested Will.

"That's hard to believe, for he isn't the bad fellow some people say. A little wild, but with a good heart. I'd rather believe he lost it, and one of that crowd picked it up," said Bluff, sturdily.

"That's just like you, Bluff, standing up for a friend. Well, I'm rather inclined to believe the same way. Anyhow, it was a mighty mean dodge. If that Andy Lasher keeps on he'll get in a peck of trouble sooner or later. Why, for such a thing as this he deserves a peppering of shot at a distance," said Frank, indignantly.

"It was criminal, that's what. We might have been smothered in our beds," remarked Bluff.

"Or my camera might have been utterly destroyed," wailed Will.

Old Toby said nothing, but he cast many an anxious look around at the adjacent trees, as if he had an idea lingering under his woolly pate that in some way or other this new disaster might have a connection with the shooting of the wildcat.

Things assumed a normal aspect after a while, and only for the scent of burnt leaves no one would dream that the camp had come near destruction.