"At least I did not get my ears boxed," she retorted. "Mrs. Shafto served you just right, though I think we all regret that, while about it, she did not make a finished job of it." "That subject is closed," reminded Miss Briggs. "Hippy, don't you say another word," warned Nora Wingate, and, after the laugh had subsided, they looked at Tom. "I went up to examine the skidway," he said. "What I found there fully confirmed the vague suspicions that were already in my mind." "Eh?" interrupted Hippy, leaning forward expectantly. Elfreda nodded, as if Tom had confirmed her own conclusions. "It was not wholly the rain that dislodged the supports of the logs, folks," resumed Tom. "No--ot rain?" exclaimed Hippy, blinking at his companion. "Not rain," repeated Tom. "Human hands loosened the supports that sent the great pile of logs down on the camp of the Overlanders," he declared impressively. CHAPTER IX LUMBER-JACKS SEEK REVENGE "Same old game," grumbled Hippy. "What makes you think that the skidway was tampered with?" questioned Anne, after the exclamations following Tom's startling assertion had subsided. "Because the evidence is there. Even a novice could read the signs left there. In spots, I found the imprints of rubber boots. I also found four canthooks, used for rolling logs." Hippy suggested that these might have been left when the lumbermen stopped work in the early spring, but Tom shook his head. "No. They were new, which indicates that they were brought to this place within a few days--probably within the last few hours, for the hooks did not have a single point of rust on them." "But, Tom! I cannot understand how moving that tremendous weight in bulk was possible for a handful of men," wondered Grace. "Jacks can do anything they wish with logs," answered Tom Gray. "In this instance they called on nature for assistance, and fickle nature lent them a hand by sending them rain. The ground too, I discovered, had been dug out under the lower side of the skidway and the supports knocked out." "The varmints!" growled Joe Shafto, who had been an attentive listener to Tom's story. "The jacks shifted some logs around to act as a track to give the logs on the skidway a good start down the bank; they further cleared a channel lower down so that the water might undermine the skidway still more, then, when the trap was properly set, undoubtedly gave the top of the pile a start with their hooks. I can't describe it so you people, unfamiliar with logging operations, can get the picture clearly." "I think you do very well," answered Emma wisely. "Of course, Hippy could improve upon it, but fortunately he is not telling the story." "Do you know of any early lumber operations near here, Mrs. Shafto?" asked Tom. The guide said she did not, but that the woods were often full of cutters late in the fall and in the early winter.