The man looked up and down through the woods. He went a little way backward, and then forward. Then he uttered an exclamation.

"There it is--back of you!" he exclaimed. "You're all on Mr. Jallow's land now, and I order you off. Them stone piles are the points in the line. That big pine tree is another mark. The line runs right along here, and you're all trespa.s.sers."

"Well, if that is the correct line, perhaps we are," agreed the young lawyer. "And we are willing to go--for the time being. But it looks to me as though those stone piles had been very recently put up, and the blaze on that tree is certainly a fresh one."

"I don't know nothin' about that," growled the man. "All I was told was that this is the line, and to keep strangers off; so I'm going to do it!"

"And we don't blame you," went on Will, recognizing that it would be poor policy to quarrel with a mere guard. "If we question this at all it will be with those in authority."

"Huh! If you lock horns with Mr. Jallow you'll be sorry for it," said the guard. "Now you'd better go. My dog is getting uneasy."

"He'd better not get _too_ uneasy," remarked Frank significantly. "Come on, girls," and the girls, who had been getting more and more nervous as the talk proceeded, were glad enough to precede the boys off the disputed territory. The man stood sullenly watching them, while the dog growled deep in his throat.

"Well, you had quite an adventure; eh?" asked Will when they were out of earshot of the man.

"Yes, and I was so afraid something would happen," said Grace. "He came upon us so suddenly!"

"Evidently Mr. Jallow means to contest this land business!" exclaimed Allen. "I should like to look into this matter myself. I don't like the looks of those stone piles."

"Father is sure there has been some unlawful change in the boundary line," spoke Grace. "But it is hard to prove. Oh, if we could only find that old lumberman, Paddy Malone."

"Perhaps we may come across him in our wanderings," suggested Mollie.

"Did you boys have any luck hunting?" inquired Betty, when the details of the encounter with the man had been given.

"Not a luck!" exclaimed Will. "We all fired at one poor little rabbit, and he ran home and told his mamma on us, I guess."

"Well, you won't go hungry," said Amy.

"Why, are you girls going to invite us over to lunch?" asked Will quickly. "That's great, fellows! For this unexpected pleasure--many thanks!" and he bowed low.

"I--I didn't exactly mean it that way!" stammered Amy, blushing, and looking at her friends in some alarm at thus being so quickly taken up.

"I meant that you had plenty of food in your own cabin."

"Oh, no, Amy! You can't take it back that way!" cried Will, waltzing around with her in the snow. "You gave us an out-and-out invitation; didn't she, fellows?"

"Sure," chorused Frank and Allen.

"Oh, well, I guess we can stand you for one meal," said Grace. "Shall we, girls?"

The others were willing, and the hunters were soon with their friends, making merry at table.

The weather, which had been threatening, became more so toward night, and the next two days it snowed. It did not keep the outdoor girls in, but they did not go far from the cabins, as Mr. Franklin said they might easily become lost. The boys shoveled paths for them, and spent much time in hunting, but with poor luck. The girls managed to fill in the time, and they declared they would not have missed coming for anything.

Amy seemed to have recovered her spirits under the influence of her friends, and in the fresh, bracing air of the Winter woods. Letters from home came for all the girls and boys, but mails were not very frequent.

Going for food, cooking, doing the work of the cabin, taking walks filled up the days completely, and then there came a thaw, a rain and a freeze. The young folks spent much time on the river then, skating and ice boating, and having good times generally.

Then ensued another mild spell, during which long walks were taken to distant parts of the big lumber camp. The place where the logs were cut and hauled to the river, and the saw mill, now deserted, where some of the big trees were made into beams, were inspected by the curious ones.

One afternoon, following a long tramp, while the boys and girls were on their way to camp they made a curious discovery. Since the encounter with the man (the story of it having been sent to Mr. Ford) no further trouble had been experienced. But Grace and her chums were careful to keep on their side of the boundary.

On this occasion, however, they approached it closely, and looking off through the trees of the land Mr. Jallow claimed, Mollie espied smoke coming from a log cabin.

"Why, someone's living over there!" she exclaimed. "I never noticed that before."

"Neither did I," agreed Betty. "I'm sure no one was in it when we pa.s.sed here two days ago!"

As they paused to look several persons came from the cabin, which had evidently been built for camping purposes.

"Look!" exclaimed Grace in a low voice.

"It's Alice Jallow!" exclaimed Mollie.

"And Kittie Rossmore!" added Betty.

"Who are the two fellows with them?" Grace wanted to know.

"One is Jake Rossmore--Kittie's brother," spoke Will, "and the other is----"

"Sam Batty!" interrupted Frank. "Two cronies if ever there were any. I wonder what this means?"

"It looks as though they were camping out--just as we are," said Mollie.

"And, look, there is Mrs. Jallow. Oh, they've seen us!"

It was indeed so. Mrs. Jallow, her daughter and Kittie looked up and saw our friends--their rivals. Then the three newcomers started for the boundary line, the two boys remaining at the cabin.

"Shall we--shall we wait?" asked Betty in a low voice.

"We're on my father's land--I don't see why we should run," said Grace calmly. "Especially from--them!"

CHAPTER XII

IN A BIG STORM

"How do you do?" asked Kittie sweetly--too sweetly, the other girls mentally decided as the three rivals approached the boundary line. "We hear you are camping up in these woods."

"Yes," remarked Betty a bit coldly. Really they had no quarrel with Kittie, though she was the chum of Alice, and always siding with her.

Kittie had never said anything actually mean. "Yes, we are here. Are you camping too?"

"We are," said Mrs. Jallow, taking up the conversation. Evidently she did not propose to do as her daughter did, and not speak, for Alice, with a supercilious air, had not so much as addressed a word to the outdoor girls and their boy friends. "We are in one of Mr. Jallow's cabins. We like it very much."

"Yes, it is nice," agreed Grace. Amy had taken no part in the talk, and Will, sensing her feelings, took her arm and led her along the path, pretending to show her some curious moss formation on the trees.