Affairs seemed to take a turn for the better now, and the boy trapper and his two friends were left to carry out their plans without any opposition.
Bob and Lester kept out of sight altogether; but they need not have been so careful to do that, for the General was the only one who was the wiser for what they had done, and he never said a word about it to anybody.

They could not even muster up energy enough to go out of nights to rob David's traps; and perhaps it was just as well that they did not attempt it, for they might have run against Dan Evans in the dark.

The latter spent very little time at home now.

He was sometimes absent for two days and nights, and David and his mother did not know what to make of it.

He had built a camp near the field in which the traps were set, and there he lived by himself, subsisting upon the squirrels and wild turkeys that fell to his rifle.
Things went on smoothly for a week, and during this time David and his friends were as busy as they could be.