nearly noon
Normally these trappers were quiet , peace-loving men , who would have shuddered at the thought of causing human bloodshed ; but now , moved doubtless to a large extent by a natural desire to avenge an outrage committed upon their friends , they also felt it their plain duty to mete out punishment to the guilty ones , in order to insure themselves and other white trappers against further molestation . Unless this were done there was no guarantee against continued raids upon their tilts , and there would always be the danger , and even probability , that sooner or later they would themselves be attacked and shot from ambush by the emboldened savages . The trail that Bob had made , leading up from the river tilt and along the creek which flowed from the first lake , was plainly marked ; and they proceeded with the long , swinging stride characteristic of the woodsman , rapidly and without a halt , to the point where the trail entered the lake . Here a wide circuit around the lake shore was necessary , and it was nearly noon when they fell again into the trail at the farther end and came upon the first tilt . `` We may 's well stop an ' boil th ' kettle , '' said Dick , throwing down the light pack of provisions he carried and mopping the perspiration from his forehead , for the mid-day sun was warm . `` If we were only havin ' a canoe , now , we 'd be a rare piece farther . ` Twere a long cruise around the lake . ''