CHAPTER VII

A BAD BREAK

"THAT was queer, wasn't it?" said Jerry to his chums when they were
seated in the train, moving swiftly toward the great west. "I wonder
what he meant, and what he was doing out here?"

"And I guess you can keep on wondering, for all the good it will do,"
commented Bob. "I couldn't make anything out of what they said, except
that some ship might be lost. That's common enough."

"I wonder what that stuff was that he shipped from the freight
office?" mused Jerry.

"Rat poison, maybe," replied Ned with a laugh. "I've heard there are
lots of rats on ships, and maybe he has a patent stuff for getting rid
of 'em."

"It might be," agreed Jerry. "Well, as Bob says, there's no use
wondering. Say, but this is pretty nice scenery," and he pointed to
the view from the window, as they were passing along the shores of a
lake.

"Fine!" exclaimed Ned. "It ought to have some mountains around it, and
it would look just like Lost Lake, where we found the hermit, that
time."

"Seems as if that was a good while ago," commented Bob, "but it wasn't
so very."