“All right,” answered an unseen voice from the house, and the Four, following the host, found themselves in a great living-room at one end of which big logs blazed in a monstrous fireplace. The room was beautifully furnished; bright-hued rugs covered the floor, heads of deer, bears, and caribous adorned the walls, and a giant moose head glared down from the stone chimney above the high mantel. A flight of stairs led past the chimney to a gallery which ran around three sides of the building and from which the up-stairs rooms opened. Over the gallery railing hung hides and pelts of deer, bears, foxes, and other animals. The host led the way to the fire, before which two ladies and a second man were sitting. The latter proved to be “Jack,” and “Jack’s” last name proved to be Merrill. The boys gave their names, and were duly introduced. The host’s name was Carey; one of the ladies was Mrs. Carey, and the other was a Miss White. The inhabitants of the camp were dressed as though they were in a city house instead of a log building on the edge of the wilderness, and the boys regretted their own scanty attire. That is, three of them did; I can’t honestly say that Tom looked worried about the matter. But, for that, neither did their hosts. The boys were given places about the broad hearth, and the bull-terrier threw himself down at their feet and viewed them with a friendly grin. Bob, with occasional help from his companions, told about their trip, about Camp Chicora, and about the finding of the tender. The matter of reward was broached, but, upon their refusal to consider it, was not pressed. “But you’ll have to take dinner with us,” said Mr. Carey, and the others indorsed him. The boys were nothing loath to change camp-fare for the luxuries promised by the appearance of the camp and its inmates, and Tom, who had possibly feared a refusal on the part of his companions, heaved a sigh of relief when they accepted the invitation. After that they spent the jolliest kind of an hour until dinner was announced. They were taken over the house and marveled at its conveniences and appointments; they were challenged to a game of pool by Miss White, accepted, and were one and all badly beaten; they were shown the contents of the gun-racks by Mr. Carey, and listened to his tales of moose and caribou hunting in the north with tingling veins; and finally they were conducted by a smart servant to a cozy up-stairs room to get ready for dinner. “Wish I had a little more on,” said Bob ruefully, looking at his scant camp uniform in the big mirror. “I don’t feel decent.” “I wouldn’t mind so much,” said Dan, “if I even had long trousers. My legs look awfully bare.” “Bet we have a swell dinner,” was Tom’s contribution to the subject.