"I'll wager a new cap against a balloon that they tell everybody in town they shot those partridge and the rabbits," came from Giant. "Sure thing!" exclaimed Whopper. "And they'll say they shot about a thousand other things besides. I know 'em. They can all blow to beat the band when they want to." On the following Monday it was clear and cool, and the boys set out to look at their beaver traps, of which three had been placed in position. To their delight, two of the traps held beavers; and to their astonishment, the third trap held a muskrat. "Hullo! here is something I wasn't looking for!" cried Snap. "He's a fine haul," he added, looking the muskrat over. "And the beavers are fine, too," added Shep. "Boys, I think we can count ourselves lucky and no mistake." "Let us set the traps again," said Whopper, who was excited over the haul. This was done, and the boy hunters returned to their camp well pleased at what they had caught. "I wish we'd get something in the bear trap," said Giant. The small youth had set his heart on getting a bear before it should be time to return home. On the day following, Shep and Giant went out after nuts and were gone the best part of the day. When they returned to the camp they were both excited and wanted to see Snap without delay. "What's it all about?" asked the leader of the gun club. "We may be mistaken," answered Shep, "but we think we have made a discovery of importance." "What kind of a discovery?" "We think we have located the man who set fire to the sawmill and ran away with those documents!" answered Giant. CHAPTER XXVII THE DESERTED COTTAGE Giant's announcement filled Snap with keen interest, and he wanted to know at once all Shep and the small youth could tell. "We went directly up the lake," said Giant. "Took the road around the rocks that Jed Sanborn showed us. We found the nut trees, and----" "Never mind the nut trees," interrupted Snap. "Tell me about that man." "Well, back of the trees is a cleared spot---maybe it was a farm some years ago, and in the midst of the clearing is an old, half-tumbled-down cottage. We walked over to the cottage and looked in at the window." "And we saw a man sitting on a box with a barrel before him," put in Shep. "On the barrel he had a board and on the board were spread some papers that the man was looking over. The man was tall and thin, and had red hair and a short, red moustache" "That tallies with the man who stole the money and the papers!" cried Snap, excitedly. "Did he limp, too?" "Slightly, with his left foot." "He must be our man. But what is he doing around here?" "I don't know," answered Shep. "As soon as he saw us he jumped up and put the papers in his pocket." "What did you do?" asked Whopper. "He asked us what we wanted, and Shep told him we were out nutting," said Giant. "Then he asked us who we were." "Did you tell him?"