Phil Bradleys Mountain Boys | Page 5

scrub, eh, Phil?"
remarked Ethan, sagely.
"Well, it would be a wise thing to do," chuckled the other; "because
just now we haven't lost any bobcat that we know about. The trail
seems to be heading pretty straight right here; and chances are we'll
have little trouble running across the same some little ways on."
Both he and Ethan took a good survey of their surroundings, but
evidently the wildcat was still hiding amidst that scrub, for they saw
nothing of her again while making the half circuit.
"Now keep your eyes peeled for the trail again, Ethan," advised Phil,
when they were well around on the other side of the danger spot.
Lub managed to push along until he could find himself in the midst of
the bunch. He cast numerous side glances in the direction of that
disputed ground, as though half anticipating seeing a whole army of
ferocious bobcats come leaping forth, all with blazing yellow eyes and
stubby tails.
Nothing of the kind happened, however, and presently Ethan was heard
calling:
"Here's your old trail, Phil, as plain as print. And d'ye know, there's
only one thing I'm sorry about, which is that you didn't think to snap off
a picture with our chum on his hands and knees backing off, and the cat
on the log."
"Well, I'm glad myself there wasn't any chance to keep that accidental
tumble of mine as a perpetual joke," said Lub, indignantly.
"Nothing to be ashamed about at all, Lub," remarked X-Ray; "and I
reckon now if it had been Ethan himself who stumbled when he caught
his foot in a vine, and then found himself face to face with a mad cat

he'd have been near paralyzed too."
This seemed to mollify Lub somewhat, though he hardly liked that
reference to his having been paralyzed very much.
They pushed on resolutely and the minutes passed. Phil on hearing Lub
puffing and seeing that X-Ray lagged a little, cheered both of them up
by declaring that the time was now short.
"It wouldn't surprise me a whit," he said, cheerily, "to get a glimpse of
the lake any time now, through the trees. Unless all my calculations are
faulty we must be on my land right now."
"That sounds good to me, Phil," asserted X-Ray, joyously, as he took a
fresh spurt, and no longer limped as though he had a stone bruise on his
heel.
Even Lub grinned until his red face looked like a newly risen sun.
"We'll all be mighty glad to get there, believe me!" he declared; "and
think of the jolly time we'll have preparing our first supper in the
woods. This big aluminum frying pan of Phil's has kept digging me in
the ribs right along, until I'm afraid there's a black and blue spot there;
but I mean to take my revenge good and plenty when we fill it full of
onions and potatoes and such fine things. Take another squint ahead,
Phil, and see if you can't give us real good news."
"Well, just as sure as anything I see what looks like water!" called out
Phil, with an eager tremor in his voice.
"Whereabouts, Phil? Oh! I hope now, you're not joshing us?" Lub
demanded.
"Stop just where you are, everybody," the pilot of the expedition told
them, "and watch where I'm pointing. If you follow my finger you can
see if I've made a mistake or not. How about it, X-Ray? You've got the
best eyes of the crowd, I guess."

"It's water, all right, Phil," replied the other, glad that he could be
accounted as best in something.
"And that means Lake Surprise, doesn't it?" questioned Ethan Allan.
"Yes, because it's the only body of water for miles around here," Phil
continued. "That's one reason they let it alone so much. Other lakes lie
in bunches, and a canoe can be taken over a carry from one to another
in the chain; but Surprise is an awful lonely sheet of water."
"And that's how it must have got its name," added Ethan. "All the while
nobody dreamed there was any such lake up here; and then all at once a
wandering guide must have run headlong on the same, to his surprise."
"Wish we were there on the bank right now," grunted Lub.
"Another mile, perhaps half of that, ought to take us to the water," he
was assured by Phil; "and you see we are coming in from the west,
which is all right, too, because my land lies on the western shore; and
that cabin must be somewhere just ahead of us."
"Hurrah!" shouted Ethan, unable to keep from giving expression to his
delight any longer.
The others felt pretty much the same way, and joined in a