In about ten minutes, Adam turned, and led the way toward the river. The strip of land was much narrower here than where they had crossed it before, and after a short season of scrambling and scratching and pushing over ground where it seemed as if no one had ever passed before, the river was reached. Here was a broad strip of clean sand lying between the woods and the water’s edge, but there was no house in sight. “Isn’t this the end of the bend?” asked Phœnix. “Yes, it’s the end of the bend,” said Adam, looking about him; “but it’s the wrong bend. I know the place now just as well as if I’d been born here. You see the river makes another bend up there, don’t you? It’s a good while since I’ve been here, and I never came to the place by the way of the sea. The house we’re after is up there. There’s no mistake this time.” “But that must be ever so far away!” said Phil, dolefully. “The beginning of that bend is more than a mile off, I should say.” “Yes, it’s a good piece off,” said Adam, “and I don’t believe we’d better try to make it to-night. The best thing we can do is to camp just here.” At this the boys gave a cheer. “That’s splendid!” said Chap. “I’d rather camp out than go to fifty houses!” And, casting his traps on the ground, he called on all hands to go and put up the tent. “You needn’t be in such a hurry about the tent,” said Adam. “That’s the easiest thing we have to do. After awhile me and one of you will fix up the tarpaulin between a couple of trees back here, and as it isn’t likely to rain, that’ll be all the shelter we’ll want. But the first thing to do is to get supper. Have any of you got fishin’-lines?” Each of the boys declared he had one, and started to get it out of his valise. “Two’ll be enough,” said Adam. “One of you might stay and help me with the fire and things, while the other two go and fish.” Phœnix agreed to stay and help Adam, while Phil and Chap got out their lines. “I was afraid your hooks wouldn’t be big enough,” said Adam, taking up their lines; “but this is a regular deep-sea tackle.” “Yes; my uncle gave us the lines,” said Phil. “He thought we might get some fishing down at the Breakwater.” “Well, all you got to do,” said Adam, “is to go down to the beach and throw out your lines as fur as they will go. We’ll have to bait at first with a little piece of meat from the rations the captain gave us. Of course, you needn’t fish if you don’t want to. We’ve got enough to eat, but I thought it would seem more to you like real campin’ out if we had a mess of nice hot fish for supper.” “That’s so!” cried Chap; “we wouldn’t think of eating that dry stuff while there’s fish in the river.” “That is, if we can coax any of the fish out of the river,” remarked Phil. “Oh, we’ll do that easy enough,” said Chap. “Get your bait, and come along.”