“If it only wasn’t for that pain in my side,” he panted as Bob stopped. “No wonder you have a pain in this going,” Jack declared. “Now, I’ll tell you what,” Rex began as he got his breath. “You two go on and I’ll stay here. You see,” he explained as Bob was about to interrupt, “they don’t know me and I doubt if they’d harm me.” “Say, Rex, if I didn’t know that you were innocent of any bad intention I’d sure give you a punch for that,” Jack declared. “To think that we’d leave you. No sir ree! We stick together, sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish.” “Hark!” “Hear something?” Jack asked. “I think I can hear them coming this way,” Bob replied. “How about it Rex, old man? Think you can make another stab at it or shall we meet them here? They’ll probably catch us anyhow and perhaps it will be as well to save our strength.” “The pain’s gone now and I guess I can hold out for awhile, but I wish you’d do as I said.” “Nothing doing along that line,” Bob smiled as he started to lead the way once more. Rex seemed to have gained his second wind, as Bob had hoped, and for some time they made good progress considering the going. It was now broad daylight and the sun was beginning to touch the tops of the tall pines and spruces with its rays. Both Bob and Jack from time to time caught the sound of their pursuers and both knew that, in spite of their best efforts they were gaining steadily on them. They had covered perhaps half a mile, when Bob again stopped. “Go on, I’m not winded,” Rex said. “I know it,” Bob replied, “but it’s no go.” “What do you mean, no go?” “Listen.” Even Rex had now no difficulty in distinguishing the sounds of the approaching men. “It’ll be a big advantage to us to have our wind in good shape when they come,” Bob explained. “And they’d catch us in another hundred yards or so anyhow.” “What are you going to do?” Rex asked. “Depends on circumstances,” Bob replied. “You two let me do the talking. Remember the odds are five to three and we mustn’t do anything rash.” Even as he spoke he caught the sight of the leader crashing through the thick woods only a few yards away. The man was closely followed by the other four. The boys could tell by their heavy panting that they were far from fresh but they well knew that the physical endurance of many of these men of the woods was little short of miraculous. The leader saw them a moment later and stopped in his tracks only a few feet away. His companions quickly gathered about him and they all began to talk in French. Although both Bob and Jack spoke the language fairly well and ordinarily had no difficulty in understanding it, the men spoke so rapidly and in such low tones that they were able only to catch a word here and there. Finally the leader took a few steps toward them. “You bust our rocks, an’ you mak’ us geet wet, oui,” he said with an angry sneer. “You had no right to build that pier there,” Bob began. “We know that it was intended to jam our logs.”