Page:Young Hunters of the Lake.djvu/168

154 They came to a sudden halt and strained their ears. Sure enough, there was the voice again, apparently coming from no place at all.

"I am dead! He is dead! Go away! Go away!" repeated the voice a dozen times or more, and then it grew fainter and fainter and presently died out altogether.

It would be hard to tell whether the boys were frightened or not. They were much disturbed, but they had a strong curiosity to know what the mysterious voice really was. Had it been night they might have experienced more fear, but it was still daylight, although the sun was well over in the west.

Holding their guns ready to shoot anything on sight, they advanced slowly through the forest, making a circle first to one side and then to the other. As they advanced they stirred up several birds and also two squirrels but did not fire at them. Thus an hour passed, and at last they came back to the spring utterly baffled.

"I can't understand it at all," declared Snap. "There must be some reason for this."

"It's a trick, that's what it is, and some day somebody will get to the bottom of it," added the doctor's son.

They returned to where they had left Whopper