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"Did you ever see the like!" gasped Giant. "Why, the woods must be full of snakes!" "We must be close to Lake Narsac," answered Snap. "Don't you remember what they said about snakes being plentiful?" "If they are as plentiful as all this I want to go right back," declared Whopper firmly. And then he looked up his trouser legs, to make certain no reptiles had gone above his ankles.
They had left Firefly Lake five miles behind them and were on the winding stream leading to Lake Narsac. On one side of the watercourse were rough rocks and on the other a tangled mass of underbrush, backed up by rocks and tall cedars. "A fellow could never make his way through such a woods as that," said Whopper, nodding in the direction of the forest.
Snap's proposal was considered a wise one. Soon the young hunters had poled the raft from shore and then they started to propel it across the lake. Two of the boys had rude paddles and the others cedar branches. The progress made was not great but it was sure, and they were content. It was pitch dark when the rude raft struck the opposite shore of Lake Narsac.
"We'll be sure to get something." "No! no! Let us go on!" cried Giant. "We want to make Lake Narsac by to-night, if we can possibly do it." The others agreed with Giant, and they kept on until the long shadows over the mountain to the westward told them that night was again approaching. "Looks as if we'd have to camp in the woods along this river," said the doctor's son.
"If that crowd should take it into their heads to go to Lake Narsac I hope they don't camp near us," went on Snap, after a pause. "They'll try to bother us all they can, you can rest assured, of that," said Whopper. "They seem to live for nothing else." "Well, we can give them as good as they send, can't we?" asked Giant. "I'm not afraid of 'em."
In the same oven Snap made a pan of baked beans, which were put away for future use. The entire afternoon of the next day was spent in rowing around Lake Narsac. They did not linger around the north shore, for it was wild and uninviting, and they had no desire to make the acquaintance of the snakes said to swarm there.
At this they were very successful, and a fine supper of fresh lake trout put them in much better humor. They put in a peaceful night, and the next morning, the storm having cleared away, they set off for Lake Narsac. "This is certainly a wilderness!" It was Snap who uttered the words, as he stood in the bow of the rowboat, taking in the scene before him.
He is dead! Then I looked out on the lake and I saw something like a ghost, only it was yellow instead of white. It moved over the water like a spirit, and in a few minutes I couldn't see it any more. Then I made up my mind I wouldn't stay up here any longer. You can camp here if you want to -I am done with Lake Narsac." The young hunters of the lake looked at each other.
"Where are they going, anyway?" asked Giant as he halted. "I know," whispered Whopper. "Just heard about it. They are going to camp out behind Lake Narsac, in the Windy Mountains." "The Windy Mountains?" ejaculated the doctor's son in evident astonishment. "Did you say the Windy Mountains, Whopper?" "I did. Why, what's the matter, Shep?" "Well, if that don't beat the Dutch!"
"I'll bet they won't go any further than Lake Cameron or Firefly Lake," said one boy, who was a chum to Ham and Carl. "It's Lake Narsac or bust!" cried Snap. "Huh! I'll believe it when I see it," returned the boy on shore. "Don't worry, you'll never get there, Jack Voss," said a man standing by. "You are too much of a coward." "Won't I?" answered Jack Voss.
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