



Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration: HAVING SECURED A GOOD SUPPLY OF BAIT, THEY STARTED FOR
THE CANOE]

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The Mountain Boys Series

PHIL BRADLEY'S MOUNTAIN BOYS

Or
The Birch Bark Lodge

By
SILAS K. BOONE

The New York Book Company
New York

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Copyright, 1915, by
The New York Book Company

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER                                  PAGE

   I Bound for Lake Surprise               11
  II Lub and the Mother Bobcat             21
 III A Mystery, to Start with              33
  IV The Figure in the Moonlight           46
   V The Sudden Awakening                  59
  VI Getting Rid of an Intruder            72
 VII On the Border of the Lake             84
VIII The Mountain Boys in Camp             97
  IX The '<DW53> Photographer               112
   X Finding a Sunbeam                    121
  XI An Encounter in the Pine Woods       134
 XII When Two Played the Game             143
XIII How "Daddy" Came Back                156
 XIV The Puzzle of It All                 169
  XV After the Storm                      181
 XVI Peace After Strife--Conclusion       194

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PHIL BRADLEY'S MOUNTAIN BOYS

CHAPTER I

BOUND FOR LAKE SURPRISE


"Phil, _please_ tell me we're nearly there!"

"I'd like to, Lub, for your sake; but the fact of the matter is we've
got about another hour of climbing before us, as near as I can reckon."

"Oh! dear, that means sixty long minutes of this everlasting scrambling
over logs, and crashing through tangled underbrush. Why, I reckon I'll
have the map of Ireland in red streaks on my face before I'm done with
it."

At that the other three boys laughed. They were not at all unfeeling,
and could appreciate the misery of their fat companion; but then Lub had
such a comical way of expressing himself, and made so many ludicrous
faces, that they could never take him seriously.

They were making their way through one of the loneliest parts of the
great Adirondack regions. There might not be a living soul within miles
of them, unless possibly some guide were wandering in search of new
fields.

The regular fishermen and tourists never came this way for many reasons;
and the only thing that had brought these four well-grown boys in the
region of Surprise Lake was the fact that one of them, Phil Bradley,
owned a large mountain estate of wild land that abutted on the western
shore of the lake.

All of the lads carried regular packs on their backs, secured with bands
that passed across their foreheads, thus giving them additional
advantages. In their hands they seemed to be gripping fishing rods in
their cases, as well as some other things in the way of tackle boxes and
bait pails.

Apparently Phil and his chums were bent on having the time of their
lives upon this outing. Laden in this fashion, it was no easy task they
had taken upon themselves to "tote" such burdens from the little
jumping-off station up the side of the mountain, and then across the
wooded plateau. There was no other way of getting to Lake Surprise, as
yet, no wagon road at all; which accounted for its being visited only
by an occasional fisherman or hunter.

Each year such places become fewer and fewer in the Adirondacks; and in
time to come doubtless a modern hotel would be erected where just then
only primitive solitude reigned.

Of course Lub (who at home in school rejoiced in the more aristocratic
name of Osmond Fenwick) being heavily built, suffered more than any of
his comrades in this long and arduous tramp. He puffed, and groaned, but
stuck everlastingly at it, for Lub was not the one to give in easily, no
matter how he complained.

Besides these two there was Raymond Tyson, a tall, thin chap, who was so
quick to see through nearly everything on the instant that his friends
had long ago dubbed him "X-Ray," and as such he was generally known.

The last of the quartette was Ethan Allan. He claimed to be a lineal
descendant of the famous Revolutionary hero who captured Ticonderoga
from the British by an early morning surprise. Ethan was very fond of
boasting of his illustrious ancestor, and on that account found himself
frequently "joshed" by his chums.

It happened that Ethan's folks were not as well off in this world's
goods as those of his chums; and he was exceedingly sensitive about this
fact. Charity was his bugbear; and he would never listen to any of