d.i.c.k and Dave, Tom and Greg now attended to two stakes at a time, making the other guy-ropes fast.
"Danny, you may set in all the wall-pegs," said d.i.c.k, standing back to survey the really neat job.
"I"ve been thinking-----" began Dalzell.
"Then let Hazelton do the wall-pegging," retorted d.i.c.k tersely.
"I"ve been thinking-----" Dalzell went on, "that it would be awfully funny, wouldn"t it, if that red Smattach belonged, not to Dodge, but to some fellow we"ve never seen before?"
"It would be inexpressibly funny!" growled Tom Reade. "And what would be funnier than anything else would be our frantic efforts to make a satisfactory explanation."
"We could be arrested for theft, couldn"t we?" asked Greg, glancing up apprehensively from the side wall pegging.
"Hardly that," replied d.i.c.k, with a shake of his head. "Theft, as I understand it, usually carries with it the sale of the plunder, or its concealment. We have hung up the tires where anyone who is interested may see them. Still, it would be awkward making explanations to strangers, and we"d all feel mighty cheap."
"Then maybe we"ll have our chance to feel that way," suggested Danny Grin, his mouth opening still wider.
"Don"t waste your time on pleasant thoughts, like that," grunted Reade. "Try to think of something sad."
"If it"s the Dodge car, could Bert make any trouble for us?" Darrin wanted to know.
"Hardly," answered young Prescott. "We"ve simply played a clever trick on Dodge and Bayliss. As our excuse we could point out a trick they palmed off on us earlier in the day. We"d be quits.
You needn"t fear Dodge. Never, since that time when he got so awfully beaten over the a.s.sault charge he made against me, has he felt that he wanted to face me in court again."
"You fellows wait here, and don"t be worried if I don"t come back soon," interposed Darry suddenly.
"What are you going to do?" demanded Tom Reade.
But Dave had slipped away. When he chose to be as mysterious as that, d.i.c.k Prescott knew better than to question his chum.
Rapidly the work of straightening camp proceeded. Dave was back in a little more than half an hour. Yet he returned so noiselessly that he was in camp before the others realized his presence.
"Well-----?" asked d.i.c.k eagerly.
"Come into the tent, fellows," whispered Dave.
When Darrin had them inside he went on, in a low voice:
"It"s the Dodge car, all right. I hid behind a tree nearby the car and waited until they returned. When they found the front tires missing they were furious. Bayliss said we fellows had done it, but Bert said he didn"t believe we were anywhere near here as yet. I slipped away and left them arguing. Dodge wants Bayliss to walk to the nearest place where he can telephone to a garage to send a man out with new tires. Bayliss says it"s the Dodge car, and Bert can do the walking. It looks as though they would come to blows, and, as I"ve been gently reared, with a distaste for fighting, I slipped away."
"If they want to come down and look along the edge of this lake, they"ll soon find out where their tires are," d.i.c.k Prescott chuckled.
"But they"ll have to come right in here to camp and ask for their property."
"Which they won"t greatly care about doing," laughed Reade.
"Let them stay away until their nerves improve, then," said d.i.c.k briefly. "Now, let"s see; we"ve got to set up the cots and bedding, and get the two lanterns filled and trimmed for the evening.
That ought not to take many minutes."
Nor did it. When this had been done, d.i.c.k asked:
"Fellows, you know what we came here to do? Fish wouldn"t taste bad for supper, would it? Which two of you want to go and try your luck for perch? They"ll bite, even after dark."
Tom and Hazelton made a hasty selection of tackle, also producing a can of bait that had been brought along from Gridley.
Then Tom and Harry disappeared, taking with them one of the lanterns.
A quarter of a mile below the camp were the ruins of an old pier from which they could cast their lines.
Where the perch are plentiful there is little skill involved in such fishing. Perch will bite after dark. The hook is baited and dropped in. The fish take hold greedily, rarely falling from the hook afterward.
While Tom and Harry were still fishing darkness fell. The two Gridley boys fished on in silence, adding frequently to the two crotched stick "strings" that flopped on the end of the pier.
"We"ve thirty-nine perch. That"s enough, even for a hungry crowd like ours," said Tom at last, after lighting the lantern.
"Here is the fortieth, then," called Hazelton, as he felt a tug at his line. He landed a pound perch almost under Tom"s nose.
"Good enough business, this," declared Tom contentedly. "I hope the fellows have everything else ready."
Tom carried the lantern; each boy carried a string of fish. As they neared camp, Danny Grin espied them, and ran forward to see the size of the catch.
"Here they are!" called Dalzell. "They"ve fish enough to feed a fat men"s boarding house!"
"Bring them here," called d.i.c.k from a board beside which he and Greg crouched, each with a knife in hand.
One after another the fish were scaled and cleaned with a speed known only to old campers. Dave had two frying pans hot over a fire. In went the perch, sputtering in the fat and giving forth appetizing odors.
"My, but they"re going to taste good!" declared Danny Grin.
Leaving Greg to finish with the cleaning of the fish d.i.c.k pa.s.sed to another campfire, throwing into a hot pan the material for fried potatoes.
Ere long the meal was on the table---two boards placed across the tops of two boxes. It was a low table, but it served the purpose.
"My, but this fish tastes good!" murmured Tom Reade, as he picked a piece of fried perch free of the backbone and began eating it.
"We"ll all of us find it the best meal ever, just because we"ve tramped far enough and worked hard enough to make any kind of decent food taste great," d.i.c.k smiled.
The supper over, and one of the campfires replenished, all six of the youngsters took the dishes down to the lake, carrying along two kettles of hot water, where a general dish-washing ensued.
With so many to do the work, the camp was spick and span within twenty minutes.
"Now, I"m going to enjoy one thing that I haven"t had all day, and that"s some real rest," Prescott declared, throwing himself down upon the gra.s.s. "I don"t believe I shall move until bedtime."
But he did. Already trouble was hovering over the camp. From out of the darkness beyond three pairs of eyes studied the campers in silence. One pair belonged to Bert Dodge, another the young Bayliss, and the third to a man of about middle age.
Dodge and Bayliss were thoroughly angry.
CHAPTER V