“I know!” cried Sam. “I understand. You don’t need to worry. You won’t starve, if that’s what’s troubling you. Now I guess we’ll get along,” and the horses stepped proudly out over the snowy road. Bells made a merry jingle as the party of boy hunters started for their first camp. “Say, Tom,” spoke Jack in a low voice to his chum, “do you think that was Skeel, the man with the ‘chawed’ ear, who was driven over to Hounson’s?” “I’m almost sure of it,” was the answer. “Well, what in the world is his object in coming away up here and at the same time we’re due?” “Give it up. We’ll have to look for the answer later,” was Tom’s reply. Out on the open road the horses increased their speed, and soon the pung, under the powerful pull of the animals, was sliding along at a fast clip. Much sooner than the boys had expected, they saw, down in a little valley clearing, a comfortable looking log-cabin, and at the sight of it Sam Wilson called out: “There she is, boys! That’s your first camp!” CHAPTER VIII THE FIRST HUNT The pung came to a stop at the head of a driveway that led up to the log cabin, which was situated in a little clearing in the dense woods all about it. Tom and his chums gave one look at the structure which was to be their home, or one of them for several weeks, and were about to leap out of the sled, when Sam stopped them by a sudden exclamation. “Hold on a minute, boys!” he said. “I want to take a look there before you step out in the snow.” “What’s the matter? Are there traps set under the drifts?” asked Bert. “No, but it looks to me like someone had been tramping around that cabin. I never made them footprints,” and he pointed to some in the snow. The snow on the driveway, leading from the main road through the woods, up to the hunting cabin itself, was not disturbed or broken by the marks of any sled runners or horses’ hoofs. There were, however, several lines of human footprints leading in both directions. “Just a moment now, boys,” cautioned Sam, who was following a certain line of footprints, at the same time stepping in a former line, that he had evidently made himself, for his boots just fitted in them. “What in the world is he doing?” asked George. “Has anything happened? Has a crime been committed? Is he looking for evidence? Why doesn’t he go right up to the cabin?” “Any more questions?” asked Jack, as the other paused for breath. “It seems like old times, Why, to hear you rattle on in that fashion.” “Aw----” began George, but that was as far as he got. Sam was ready now, to make an announcement. “I thought so!” exclaimed the guide. “There has been someone else up here since I left this morning. Someone has been snooping around here, and they hadn’t any right to, as this is private property.” “Did he get in?” asked Bert, thinking perhaps all the “grub” might have been taken.