"Cease firing!" cried Fred at last, as he dug some of the snow out of his left ear. "If this is going to be a s...o...b..lling contest, all right; but I thought we were out to do some hunting."

"Fred surrenders, and the war is over!" cried Jack.

"Hoist the milk-blue flag and call it off!" burst out Andy gleefully.

"Throw the s...o...b..a.l.l.s into the ice-cream freezer and season to taste!"

After that the four young hunters packed up their belongings and saw to it that the campfire was completely extinguished. Then they continued on their tramp in the vicinity of the Rick Rack River.

"I'm getting tired of hanging around this watercourse," said Fred finally. "I believe the reports of our guns have driven all the remaining game away. Why can't we strike off into the woods yonder and come in on the other side of Haven Point?"

They noted the position of the sun with care, and then struck off at right angles to the river. Soon they found themselves going up hill and presently struck a lumberman's trail leading down in the direction of the town. Here, however, after two hours of hunting, they failed to find any game whatever.

"We didn't improve things by coming over here," grumbled Andy.

"Now I guess we had better be thinking of getting back to the school,"

said Jack, as he consulted his watch. They had been told that they must return in time for the evening meal.

"All right, I'm ready to go," came from Fred. "Gosh! I wish I had a horse to ride, or something." The many miles of tramping had wearied him greatly.

"My left foot is beginning to hurt me a little," put in Randy. "I slipped on the rocks this morning when we were carrying that old Uncle Barney. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it's growing quite lame."

"You can walk on it, can't you?" questioned Jack anxiously.

"Oh, yes, I can walk; but I can't go any too fast--or any too far, either."

The boys had done their best to keep track of where they were going, and now they turned in what they thought was the direction of Haven Point.

But, as my young readers may have heard, it is an easy matter to lose one's sense of direction in the woods, and before they knew it, they found themselves in a locality that was entirely strange to them.

"We don't seem to be getting much closer to town," announced Fred presently. "I don't see a farmhouse of any sort in sight."

They had gone but a short distance when they stirred up several more rabbits, and had the pleasure of bringing two of the creatures down.

Then they came to a small clearing, and beyond this some farm fields.

"Now we must be getting to somewhere," announced Randy; and a few minutes later a turn of the road brought them in sight of a farmhouse.

Here they saw a farmer coming from a cowshed with a pail of foaming milk, and accosted him.

"Sure, you're on the road to Haven Point," answered the farmer, in reply to their question. "It's about two miles and a half from here. But do you want to go to the Point or to Colby Hall?" he went on, noticing their uniforms.

"We want to get to the Hall--and by as short a route as possible,"

answered Jack.

"Then the best thing you lads can do is to come right through my lane here and go across the back field. Then you will come out on the road that runs from the Hall to Carwell. I guess you know that?"

"Oh, yes; we know that road," returned Randy.

The cadets thanked the farmer for his information, and lost no time in following his directions. Soon they came out on the other highway, and then started forward as rapidly as their somewhat weary legs would permit.

When they reached the vicinity of Colby Hall Jack found, by again consulting his watch, that they were almost three-quarters of an hour late.

"Let's see if we can't slide in without any of the teachers seeing us,"

suggested Andy.

"Oh, I don't know that we've got to do that, Andy," returned Jack. "We haven't done anything wrong."

"Well, we are late, and you know some of the teachers won't stand for that."

"We had permission to go hunting, and we couldn't help it getting lost up there in the woods," answered his twin.

They were just about to enter one of the side doors of the Hall, when it was flung open and they found themselves confronted by one of the younger teachers, accompanied by Professor Lemm. They stepped to one side to let the teachers pa.s.s.

"Yes, as I remarked before, Tompkins, unless you have strict discipline in that cla.s.s----" Asa Lemm was saying, when, of a sudden, he happened to glance at the cadets and recognized the Rovers. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?" he demanded, coming to an abrupt halt.

"We've been out hunting, sir," answered Jack.

"Hunting, eh?" And as was usual with him, Asa Lemm drew down the corners of his mouth.

"We had permission from Colonel Colby to go," put in Randy.

"Ah, well, in that case----" Asa Lemm paused for a moment. "Did he say you could stay out as late as this?" he added suddenly.

"We had permission to stay out until supper time," answered Jack.

"Don't you know it is an hour after that time now, Rover?"

"Three-quarters of an hour, Professor. We might have been on time, only my cousin here slipped on the rocks and hurt his ankle, and that has delayed us a little."

"Humph! always some excuse! You boys have got to learn to be on time.

You'll never get through life unless you are punctual. I shall mention the fact of your being late to Colonel Colby. Now go in at once, and if you are too late to get anything to eat, it will be your own fault;" and thus speaking, Asa Lemm moved on with the other teacher.

"Oh, but he's the sourest old lemon that ever grew!" was Andy's comment.

"You never said anything truer than that, Andy," answered his twin.

CHAPTER VII

AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

"Say, fellows, did you ever hear this song?"

It was Ned Lowe who spoke. He sat in one of the rooms belonging to the Rovers. On his knee rested a mandolin which he had been strumming furiously for the past ten minutes.

"Sure we've heard it, Ned!" cried Andy. "What is it?"

"For gracious sake, Ned! why don't you let up?" cried Fred, who was in the next room trying his best to study. "How in the world is a fellow going to do an example in algebra with you singing about good times on the old plantation?"