"What is your name?" asked Bertie, of Dale. "Dale Bradford." "And what is yours?" "Owen Webb." "Oh, are you the young men who caught the fellows who wanted to rob the lodge?" cried Mrs. Wilbur quickly. "Guess we had a hand in it," answered Owen, reddening a little. "Mr. Wilbur told me all about it. You did us a great service. Those men were going to take away some silverware that has been in our family for a hundred and forty years." "Oh, did they catch the bad robbers?" came from Bertie. "You must be awfully brave." "We only helped, Bertie," answered Dale. "Some day you must come up to the lodge and call on us," went on Mrs. Wilbur. "Thank you," answered both young lumbermen; and after a few other pleasant words they drove on, Mrs. Wilbur smiling after them, and Bertie and Gertrude waving their hands. "She's all right," came from Owen. "She knows how to treat a fellow civilly." "Certainly she didn't treat us as Jasper Nown did," returned Dale. "It's easy to see that she is a perfect lady." And then he thought of his own sweet mother, now gone so many years, and heaved a deep sigh. On the following day the weather turned out unusually hot, and both Dale and Owen were glad when Gilroy told them that he wished both to go for him on an errand to the next camp, a distance of eight miles through the forest. They had to go to this place on foot, and he told them they might take their time and do a little hunting on the way. "It beats chopping, on such a day as this," said Owen. "We can not only hunt a little, but fish too, and take a fine swim in the bargain, when we reach the head of the lake." They started off directly after breakfast and were soon well on the way. Each had a fishing line with him, but, at the last minute, only Owen took his gun. "I can fish while you hunt," said Dale. Deep in the forest it was much cooler than in the open, and though the trail was unusually rough in this direction, they made fairly good progress, and by ten o'clock had reached the end of the lake Owen had mentioned. Here they stopped for a short swim, and then struck out again, resolved to do their hunting and fishing when on their way home. Their course now took them around in the direction of one end of Pine Tree Lake. Here was a little lake called the Mirror, on account of its clearness, on the shore of which some hunters had erected a small lodge. "The sun seems to be clouding over," remarked Dale, as they approached Mirror Lake. "It didn't look a bit like rain when we started." "Dale, I don't believe those are clouds." "Not clouds? What do you mean?" "That is smoke. The forest is on fire some distance from here." Dale sniffed the air. "I believe you are right, Owen. I hope the fire doesn't come this way." "It will unless something stops it. Just look how dry everything is." For several minutes they watched the smoke with much concern. It was moving to the northward, but presently it shifted in their direction.