Dave Porter At Bear Camp: or, The Wild Man of Mirror Lake

"I didn't mean just that, Jessie. I meant – "

"You did mean it! You think I am silly, do you? All right, you can think so! Please paddle straight for our dock."

"Now, Jessie – " began Dave, entreatingly.

"I don't want to hear another word! Take me straight to the dock," retorted the girl.

"Very well, if you won't listen to me you don't have to," answered Dave; and now he, too, showed that he was completely out of sorts.

He struck the paddle deeper than ever into the water, and with long, telling strokes the canoe shot forward over the lake in the direction of Bear Camp.

CHAPTER XV

VISITORS

Several days went by and during that time the coldness that had sprung up between Dave and Jessie increased, although both did their best to hide it from the others.

One afternoon while the girl was off with Laura and Belle for a tramp along a brook that flowed into the lake not far from the bungalows, Mr. Appleby came into the cove in his motor-boat, bringing with him an old hunter and guide of that vicinity, named Tad Rason, and also Della Ford and her Aunt Bess. They found Dave, Roger, and Phil at the dock, fishing.

"Any luck?" called out the manager of the moving-picture company, cheerily.

"Some, but not a great deal," answered Dave, and he and the others pulled in their lines, so that they might not become entangled in the propeller of the boat.

"You'll have to go to the other shore for good fishing," said Tad Rason, who had already shown himself at the bungalows and made himself known.

"The fish are mighty scarce around here."

"I'd like to go fishing sometime!" exclaimed Della, with a smile and a nod to Dave and his chums. "I never caught a fish in my life. Mr. Porter, couldn't you show me how to do it?" she asked, sweetly.

"I might, if the fish was willing to be caught," answered Dave, with a grin.

"Oh, I am sure I could catch one if you would only show me how," returned the young actress.

"Well, if you are going to fish with worms you've got to first learn how to put one on a hook," said Phil.

"O my! I'm sure that I don't want to put a squirming worm on any hook!" cried Della, with a slight shudder. "I want to fish with one of those beautiful flies, it's so much more interesting."

"I came down on a peculiar errand," broke in Mr. Appleby, after he had tied up at the dock. "I would like to borrow a little furniture from you for one day only."

"Furniture?" queried Roger.

"Yes. You see, we have an interior scene up at our cottage, but we haven't got just the furniture that the drama calls for. I noticed when I stopped at your bungalows yesterday that you had several pieces that are just the ones required. If you will lend them to me to-day, I will see that you get them back safely by to-morrow."

"You'll have to see Mrs. Wadsworth and Mrs. Basswood about that," returned Dave. "Not but that I think it will be all right," he added, hastily.

"Come up here to do some shooting, I suppose, just as soon as the season opens?" remarked Tad Rason, to the boys.

"Well, we won't object to bringing down a deer or two if we get the chance," answered our hero. "But I rather imagine deer are scarce around here. I haven't seen any of them yet."

"Oh, you'll find plenty of deer up at the head of the lake," returned the old hunter. "They don't come down here much. They always left this spot for the bears."

"The bears! Oh, Mr. Rason! you surely don't mean that?" cried Della Ford.

"But I certainly do, ma'am. This was always a great place for bears. That's why they call this end of the lake Bear Camp. I shot one of 'em here last winter, and I got an old she-bear and her two cubs here two years afore that."

"We haven't seen any traces of bears," said Phil.

"You'll see 'em sooner or later," returned the old hunter, with conviction. "They are bound to come here."

"What makes you say they are bound to come?" questioned Dave, curiously. "Is there any particular reason for it?"

"I think there is, young man. So far as I can understand it, I think the bears come here in the fall to get certain roots and herbs that they like to eat. I think they find more of 'em around here than they do anywhere else, and that's what fetches 'em."

"And do you think the bears keep the deer away from here?" questioned Roger.

"I don't know as to that. But I do know that bears and deer don't mix very well," answered Tad Rason.

While Mr. Appleby was negotiating with Mrs. Wadsworth and Mrs. Basswood for the loan of several pieces of rustic furniture which the bungalows contained, Della Ford and her aunt visited with the boys. The young actress wanted to know all about what the young folks at the bungalows had been doing, and expressed her delight at the cosiness of the place, and its beautiful surroundings.

Mr. Appleby, aided by Tad Rason, carried the borrowed furniture down to the motor-boat. There was more of it than the manager had at first anticipated taking, and, as a consequence, the craft was well loaded.

"I don't see how we are going to sit in there with all that furniture packed around us!" exclaimed Della, in dismay, as she viewed the situation.

"You might sit in that rocking-chair on the bow," suggested Phil, with a broad smile; and at this suggestion there was a general laugh.

"No, thank you. I have no desire to be spilled overboard. I went overboard once, and that was quite enough," answered the young actress.

"I'll tell you what we might do," answered Dave. "We could take you and your aunt in one of the rowboats, and have the motor-boat tow it."

"Oh, that would be lovely!" cried Della. "What do you say, Aunt Bess; shall we do it?"

"I'm willing, if it is safe," answered the aunt, "I don't want to go to the bottom of this lake any more than I wanted to go to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean."

"It's perfectly safe," answered Dave. "The boat's a good broad one, so there is no danger of its tipping over – not unless Mr. Appleby makes a quick turn, and I don't suppose he will do that."

"If I pull your rowboat I'll be as steady as an old freight engine," was the manager's reply. "It's very kind of you boys to do this."

The best and broadest of the rowboats was brought around, and Della Ford and her aunt were assisted into the craft. Then, after the boys had procured a pair of oars, they, too, embarked, and the motor-boat headed back for the moving picture company's camp.

"Hello! hello! Where are you going?"

The cry came from the shore at a point where the brook ran into the lake, and looking in that direction, those in the rowboat saw Jessie, Laura, and Belle just emerging from behind some brushwood and rocks. The girl from the West was swinging her broad hat vigorously.

"We are going to take these ladies home!" yelled Dave. "We'll be back soon."

"Oh, see; the motor-boat is loaded with furniture!" exclaimed Dave's sister. "What a funny sight!"

"I didn't know those folks were going to visit us to-day," was Jessie's comment, and her face showed she was not at all pleased.