SOMETHING ABOUT TRAPPING
When the smoke cleared away the two boy hunters saw two wolves
stretched upon the ground, dead. The rest of the pack had retreated,
yelping and snarling more frightfully than ever.
"That's the time we did it!" cried Whopper, reloading the rifle,
while Giant attended to his shotgun.
"But it hasn't sent them away," was the answer of the smaller youth.
"Here they come back!"
Giant was right. Sniffing suspiciously, the remaining wolves came
as close to the tree as before. Strange to say, they scarcely paid
any attention to those that had been killed.
"Let us fire again," said Whopper, and his companion nodded. Once
more the weapons rang out and again two of the wolves dropped. This
time the remainder of the pack grew scared and vanished into the
brushwood as if by magic.
"They have gone!" cried Giant, excitedly. "I thought that would
make 'em skip."
"Don't be so sure about that," was Whopper's reply. "They may be
watching us from behind the bushes. If they---I see one of them
now!"
"Let us give them another shot!"
Again the weapons were discharged, both boys thinking it great
sport to lay the wolves low. This time two more were hit, but
merely wounded. They ran away yelping with pain, and the balance
of the pack went after them. Looking from the tree, the boy hunters
saw them cross an open space some distance away and then plunge into
the woods of the next hillside.
"That finished them," said Whopper, drawing a sigh of relief. "They
are now thoroughly scared and I don't think they'll dare to come back."
Nevertheless, the boys remained in the tree for half an hour longer.
But the wolves were really gone, and at last they dropped to the ground.
"This ends hunting for to-day," remarked Giant. "It's too bad!"
"Well, we shot something," answered Whopper, grimly, and pointed to
the wolves.
"What shall we do with them?"
"Leave them here. But no, let us take the smallest along. The meat
will make good bait for the traps."
After that there was nothing to do but to start back for the camp,
and this they did without further delay. It was a hard walk and they
often stopped to rest. On the way they were fortunate enough to stir
up some partridge and brought down three, and also got two rabbits.
"Well, we'll not go back empty-handed, after all," said Whopper.
It was long past dark when they came in sight of the camp-fire, which
Snap and Shep were keeping burning brightly on purpose, so that it
might light their way.
"Here they come!" cried Snap, and ran forward to meet them. "What's
this? A wolf, I declare! Then you didn't find the silver deer?"
"We didn't get a chance," said Giant, and then he and Whopper told
their story.
"You can be thankful that you escaped from those wolves," said Snap.
"I thought wolves didn't attack folks excepting in the dead of
winter, when they couldn't get anything to eat," remarked Shep.
"That is usually the case," answered Snap. "But once in a while
they do as they did to-day---when there is a large pack of them."
Snap and Shep had made their traps and had some success at fishing,
having caught four pike of fair size and also several catfish.
That night came a fall of snow, which covered the ground to the
depth of several inches. In the morning it was so cold they were
glad enough to hug the fire until nearly noon.
In the afternoon Whopper went out on the lake and soon came back
with news.
"What do you think?" he called out. "The Spink crowd is leaving!"
"Breaking up camp?" queried Giant.
"Yes; they are loading everything in their boat."
This announcement produced a mild sensation, and after a consultation,
Snap and his chums decided to row across the lake and watch proceedings.
Ham Spink and his cronies were indeed leaving, and in far from
a good humor. None of them was a good shot and they did not possess
the patience necessary to become good hunters or fishermen. As a
consequence they had brought down very little game and caught only
a few fish. Their stock of provisions brought from home was
running low, and each boy in the camp had voted the outing a failure.
"Going to leave us?" called out Snap, as he and his friends rested
on their oars a short distance from the rival camp.
"Yes," was Ham Spink's surly response.
"What's the matter? Don't you like the hunting here?" asked Whopper.
"Oh, don't be so inquisitive!" came from Dick Bush. "I guess you
are glad enough to see us go."
"Not at all," said Giant. "You are welcome to stay, so long as
you don't interfere with our doings."
"We don't think much of this place," grunted Ham Spink. "It may be
good enough in the middle of summer, but not now, when winter is
coming on."
"Are you going right home, Ham?" asked Snap.
"What business is that of yours?"
"I thought if you were, you might sell us what stores you have left
over."
"We have nothing to sell to you," was the cold reply.
"We might make a trade," put in Shep. "We have got some plump
partridge and rabbits to spare."
"Humph! Are you saying that just to tease us?"
"Not at all. Here are the rabbits and the partridge, too," and the
doctor's son held them up.
Now, as it happened, Ham Spink and his cronies were very anxious
to take some game home, but had nothing but one rabbit and a little
squirrel. They gazed longingly at the plump game Shep exhibited.
"Let us take them," whispered Dick Bush. "Nobody will know how we
got them."
At this Ham Spink's eyes brightened. He was not above telling an
untruth when he felt like it.
"What will you take for what you have?" he called out.
"What have you got?"
The rival campers looked over such provisions as they had left, and
enumerated the articles---sugar, cocoa, flour, some canned goods,
and some preserves. Snap and his chums went ashore and investigated.
"We'll trade even," said Snap at last, after talking with his
chums. "But on one condition."
"What is that?"
"That you take some letters home for us and deliver them as soon
as you arrive."
"All right, we'll do that," said Carl Dudder.
The trade was made on the spot, and the letters written; and on the
following morning Ham Spink and his cronies left the vicinity of
Firefly Lake. It was the last our friends saw of the dudish youth
and his friends for some time to come.
"I think he feels sick all over," remarked Shep, after the other
crowd had departed.
"He certainly isn't in high spirits," commented Snap.
"I'll wager a new cap against a balloon that they tell everybody in
town they shot those partridge and the rabbits," came from Giant.
"Sure thing!" exclaimed Whopper. "And they'll say they shot about
a thousand other things besides. I know 'em. They can all blow
to beat the band when they want to."
On the following Monday it was clear and cool, and the boys set
out to look at their beaver traps, of which three had been placed
in position. To their delight, two of the traps held beavers;
and to their astonishment, the third trap held a muskrat.
"Hullo! here is something I wasn't looking for!" cried Snap.
"He's a fine haul," he added, looking the muskrat over.
"And the beavers are fine, too," added Shep. "Boys, I think we
can count ourselves lucky and no mistake."
"Let us set the traps again," said Whopper, who was excited over
the haul. This was done, and the boy hunters returned to their
camp well pleased at what they had caught.
"I wish we'd get something in the bear trap," said Giant. The
small youth had set his heart on getting a bear before it should
be time to return home.
On the day following, Shep and Giant went out after nuts and were
gone the best part of the day. When they returned to the camp they
were both excited and wanted to see Snap without delay.
"What's it all about?" asked the leader of the gun club.
"We may be mistaken," answered Shep, "but we think we have made
a discovery of importance."
"What kind of a discovery?"
"We think we have located the man who set fire to the sawmill
and ran away with those documents!" answered Giant.