Phil Bradleys Mountain Boys | Page 6

series of
joyous whoops.
"Now, everybody put his best foot forward, and we'll soon be there,"
urged Phil; "the worst is behind us, you know."
"That's a heap better than having it yet to come!" declared X-Ray,
feeling that with the goal in sight he should be able to hold out.
They plodded along for some eight minutes or more, frequently
catching glimpses of the lake beyond, and knowing that they were
rapidly approaching its border. All at once X-Ray gave a cry.
"Tell me, what is that I can see over there, Phil; looks for all the world
like a shack made of silver birches! See how the sun shines on its side,

will you? Is that your cabin, do you think, Phil?"
"Just what it must be, X-Ray," the other told him; "they've nailed birch
bark all over the sides of the log hut, you see, just to make it look
rustic."
"Then we'll have to call it Birch Bark Lodge!" burst out Lub, who had a
little vein of the romantic in his disposition.
"That sounds good to me!" declared Ethan.
"It goes, then, does it?" asked the delighted Lub, beginning to believe
he must be waking up, to have any suggestion of his so quickly and
favorably seized upon.
"Sure thing," said X-Ray Tyson. "Hurrah for Birch Bark Lodge, the
home in the wilderness of the Mountain Boys."
"Don't be too quick to settle that sort of thing," advised the more
cautious Phil. "For all we know there may be somebody ahead of us in
the shack; and you know we couldn't well chase 'em out."
"But see here, Phil, if the cabin stands on your ground of course it's
your property by right of law, no matter whoever built the shack in the
start. He was only a squatter at the best," and Lub looked wise when he
laid down this principle in common law which is often so exceedingly
difficult to practice in the backwoods, where right of possession is nine
points of the law.
"Yes," Phil told him, "but there's always a rule in the woods that
governs cases like this, no matter who owns the land. First come, first
served. If we find that shack occupied by some sportsmen and their
guides, why, we'll have to chase along and put up one for ourselves
somewhere else."
"Huh! I don't like to hear you say that," remarked Lub, who would
possibly have liked to enter into a discussion along the line of right of
property, only none of the others cared to bother with such a question,

particularly after what Phil had said.
They pushed on and approached the cabin. One and all were looking
eagerly to discover any signs of occupancy, and greatly to their
satisfaction no dog came barking toward them, nor was there even a
smudge of smoke oozing out of the mud-and-slab chimney that had
been built up alongside the back of the shack.
"I guess it's all hunk," admitted Ethan, with a sigh of relief, as they
drew near the partly open door. "See that gray squirrel running along
the roof, would you? He wouldn't be doing that same if folks were
around."
"Oh! that depends on what kind of folks," remarked Phil. "For my part
I never yet would shoot little animals around camp. I like to see them
frisking about too much to want to eat them up. But as you say, it looks
as if we had the cabin to ourselves, after all, for which I'm glad."
"Tell me about that, will you?" muttered Lub, also showing positive
signs of satisfaction.
All of them pushed into the cabin.
"Why, this is just the thing!" cried Ethan Allan; "see the bunks along
one side of the wall, boys,--two, three, four of them, if you please."
"Just one apiece for us, and I choose this because it looks more roomy,
and better fitted for a fellow of my heft than any of the rest!" Lub was
heard to say.
They immediately began to unfasten the straps that held their packs in
place.
"Hey! what're you doing, starting a fire already, Phil?" called out Ethan,
noticing that the other was bending over the hearth.
For answer Phil beckoned to the others to approach closer.
"There's something queer happened," he told them, with a frown on his

face; "just bend down here, Ethan, and put your hand in these ashes,
will you?"
"Why!" exclaimed Ethan, immediately, "they're warm right now, would
you believe it?"
CHAPTER III
A MYSTERY, TO START WITH
While Ethan, Phil and X-Ray Tyson seemed to grasp the true
significance of this astonishing discovery, Lub as yet had not managed
to get it through his head. He was a little dense about some things,
although a clever enough scholar