thing to happen.”

“As a rule the early brood is pretty well grown by now,” commented Elmer; “still, I remember finding a nest with eggs in it as late as this, and you might be just lucky enough. Wish you success, Amos; and if I can help you in any way let me know.”

“Perhaps you may when I get a chance to set a camera trap at night, so some cunning ’coon, or frisky mink, will take his own picture. That’s my ambition, you know, Elmer, though I’m not building my hopes too high, not wanting to be disappointed.”

“I wouldn’t stray too far away, if I were you, Amos,” hinted Wee Willie.

“Oh! I’m a pretty fair woodsman,” insisted the other, “and I reckon now the chances of my getting lost are small. But I’ll just wander around the Bend here, and sort of get my bearings, as well as keep one eye out for anything that appeals to me.”

“And keep the other on the watch for signs of that tramp, or lunatic, Amos,” Perk insisted on warning him solicitously.

So Amos walked away, carrying his camera along with him. Elmer looked after him with an expression akin to concern on his young face, which shrewd Wee Willie was quick to notice.

“Something seems to be bothering him, don’t you think, Elmer?” the latter asked in a low tone so that Perk might not hear what he said.

“Y-es, I’ve thought so myself lately,” admitted Elmer, slowly; “though you remember, Amos has always been a sobersides of a chap ever since we came to know him. There’s a sort of family trouble weighing down on him, I reckon; something that is no one else’s business. I’d like to comfort him if only I knew how to go about it; but I don’t want to kick in where outsiders have no right. But let’s change the subject, Wee Willie; I dislike talking about any of my chums.”

They worked industriously for an hour and more, and under their clever tactics the roof began to show decided signs of improvement. Indeed, already one-half of its surface had been rendered impervious to water, after the boys had succeeded in thatching it with bark stripped from certain trees, and overlapping like the shingles on an ordinary house.

“By the time we get through we needn’t be afraid of the heaviest kind of a rainfall,” said Elmer, confidently; “unless it’s accompanied by a fierce wind, such as might strip all this off in a jiffy.”

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