"Say, guess that ledge ahead must be Vulture Cliff; looks as if we're kind of off the main trail. We never strike off quite so far east as this, do we?" asked Ned, halting to look up at the great black, snow-capped crag which towered above them, jutting far out over the valley. They halted just below, and visited some giant spruces which, to their joy, yielded such a fine harvest of gum that they hated to leave the grove. "We got to be making tracks now, I guess, Ned. Come on." Just then Ned chipped off a splendid lump of amber gum from his tree, and still higher up he saw several large nuggets clinging temptingly to the brown spruce trunk. As prime gum would readily fetch a dollar a pound, these Vermont boys, to whom pocket money was rare, were reluctant to leave it behind. Tom insisted upon their going on. "We've got to go on right off, Ned. But say, we'll come up on purpose some time when we don't have to go over the mountain." Soon they were directly beneath the grim shadow of Vulture Cliff; it would be a stiff climb to go around it, and this they found they must do to reach the summit of the mountain. They had halted a second to get breath, when Tom spied a queer-looking object lying just beneath the crag upon the snow, and went to investigate. "What is it?" called down Ned curiously. "Come on down and see!" shouted back Tom, and soon the two boys were staring at their find--a great bone, the knuckle joint of a cow, having the hoof still attached. The bone had been gnawed, but was still fresh. "Great Scott! What do you think of that?" exclaimed Tom excitedly. "It's surely some young creature's hoof, and whatever was gnawing it surely dropped it down from the ledge above, I believe." The boys had sudden misgivings. What could it have been? "Say, Tom, it must have been something big and fierce and hungry to carry off a big bone like that. Perhaps the bone belonged to that heifer that was lost," suggested Ned.