YOUNG HUNTERS OF THE LAKE
or
Out with Rod and Gun
By Captain Ralph Bonehill
CONTENTS
CHAPTERS
I. Four Lively Boys
II. Swimming, and What Followed
III. A Trick That Failed
IV. The Story of a Ghost
V. A Fourth of July Celebration
VI. Preparing for the Grand Outing
VII. At the Boathouse
VIII. How Two Prowlers Were Treated
IX. The First Day of the Outing
X. The Story of a Strange Disappearance
XI. A Search for a Rowboat
XII. The Camp on Lake Cameron
XIII. In the Camp of the Enemy
XIV. Delayed by a Storm
XV. Lost in the Swamp
XVI. The Rescue of Giant
XVII. On Lake Narsac at Last
XVIII. The Old Hermit's Tale
XIX. A Dangerous Deer Hunt
XX. The Mysterious Voice
XXI. In Which the Enemy Appears Again
XXII. A Lively Time in the Dark
XXIII. The Loss of the Raft
XXIV. Out on a Sand Bar
XXV. Jed Sanborn Brings News
XXVI. A Hunt After Wildcats
XXVII. Into a Bears' Den
XVIII. The Caves in the Mountain
XXIX. Visited by the Ghost
XXX. The Secret of the Mysterious Voice
XXXI. The Last of the Ghost---Conclusion
PREFACE
My Dear Lads:
This story is complete in itself but forms volume three of a line
known under the general title of "Boy Hunters Series," and taking
in adventures in the field, the forest, and on the river and lake,
both in winter and summer.
The boys of these stories are bright, wide-awake lads of to-day, with
a taste for rod and shotgun, and a life in the open air. They know a
good deal about fishing and how to shoot, and camp life is no new
thing to them. In the first volume, entitled, "_Four Boy Hunters_,"
they organize a little club of four members and go forth for a
summer vacation. They have such good times that, when Winter comes
on, they resolve to go camping again, and do so, as related in the
second volume, called "_Guns and Snowshoes_." In that story they
fall victims to a blizzard, and spend a most remarkable Christmas;
but, of course, all ends happily.
In the present story, summer is once more at hand, and again the boy
hunters venture forth, this time bound for a large lake a good many
miles from their home town. They have a jolly cruise on the water,
fall in with a very peculiar old hermit, and are molested not a
little by some rivals. They likewise follow up two bears, and are
treated to a ghost scare calculated to make anybody's hair stand on
end. What the ghost proved to be I leave the pages which follow
to reveal.
As I have said before, good hunting, especially in our eastern
states, is fast becoming a thing of the past. In some sections only
small game can be had and even then the eager hunter has to travel
many miles sometimes for a shot.
Trusting that all boys who love the woods and waters, a rod, a gun
and a restful camp will enjoy reading this volume, I remain,
Your sincere friend, Captain Ralph Bonehill.
CHAPTER I
FOUR LIVELY BOYS
"Boys, I'm going swimming. Who is going along?"
"Count me in, Snap," answered Shep Reed.
"Swimming?" came from a third youth of the crowd of four. "Why, you
couldn't keep me away if you tried. I've been waiting for a swim
for about eleven years-----"
"And a day," broke in a small, stout youth. "Don't forget the day,
Whopper, if you want to be really truthful.
"All right, put in the day," cheerfully assented the lad called
Whopper, because of his propensity to exaggerate when speaking. "Of
course you'll go, too, Giant?" he added, questioningly.
"Will I?" answered the small youth. "Will a duck swim and a cow eat
clover? To be sure I'll go. But I'll have to run home first and
tell mother."
"I'll have to go home, too," said the lad called Snap. "But I can be
back here in a quarter of an hour."
"Where shall we go?" asked Shep Reed.
"I was thinking of going up to Lane's Cove," answered Snap Dodge.
"Lane's Cove!" cried the smallest youth of the crowd.
"Yes. Isn't that a nice place?"
"Sure it is, but don't you know that Ham Spink's father has bought
all the land around there?"
"What of that, Giant?"
"Maybe he won't let us go swimming on his property---because of
the trouble we had with Ham."
"Oh, I don't believe he'll see us," came from the boy called Whopper.
"Why, I've been swimming at the cove a thousand times, and nobody
ever tried to stop me."
"If he orders us away we can go," said Shep Reed. "I know he is just
mean enough to do it."
"Is Ham home yet?" asked one of the boys.
"No, but I heard he was going to come home as soon as that boarding
school shut up for the summer."
"Wonder if he'll try to make more trouble?"
"If he does he'd better watch out, or he'll get into hot water,"
said Shep Reed; and then the boys separated, to get their swimming
outfits and tell their folks what they proposed to do.
The boys lived in the town of Fairview, a country place, located
on the Rocky River, about ten miles above a fine sheet of water
called Lake Cameron. The town boasted of a score of stores, several
churches, a hotel, and a neat railroad station at which, during
the summer months, as high as ten trains stopped daily. On the
outskirts of the town were a saw mill, a barrel factory, and several
other industries.
To those who have read the two former books in this series, entitled,
"_Four Boy Hunters_" and "_Guns and Snowshoes_," the lads getting
ready for a swim will need no special introduction. The lad called
Snap was Charley Dodge, the son of one of the most influential
men of that neighborhood, who was a school trustee and also part
owner of the saw mill and a large summer hotel. Charley was a
brave and wide-awake youth and was often looked up to as a leader
by the others. Where his nickname of Snap had originated it would
be hard to say, although he was as full of snap and ginger as a shad
is full of bones.
Sheppard Reed, always called Shep for short, was the son of a
well-known physician, a boy who loved outdoor life, and one who was
as strong as he was handsome. He and Snap had been chums for many
years, and as a consequence were occasionally known as the twins,
although they were no relation to each other.
Frank Dawson had moved to Fairview about three years before this tale
opens. He was a merry lad, with laughing eyes, and his method of
exaggerating had speedily gained for him the nickname of Whopper. But
Frank was withal a truthful lad his "whoppers" being of the sort meant
to deceive nobody. Even his mother could not make him give up his
extravagant speech. Once when she spoke about it he gravely replied:
"I know it is wrong, mother, but I simply can't stop it. Why, I've
made up my mind over a million times to---" And then he broke down,
and his mother had to laugh in spite of herself.
The smallest lad of the four was Will Caslette, always called Billy
or Giant. He was the son of a widow lady, who owned a small but
neat cottage on one of the side streets of the town. Mrs. Caslette
thought the world of her offspring and Giant was fully worthy of
the affection she bestowed upon him. Although small in size he was
manly in his deportment, and at school he was as bright as any one in
his class.
About a year before, the four boys had organized an outing or gun
club and obtained permission to go camping for a few weeks in the
vicinity of Lake Cameron. They reached the lake after several
adventures and settled down in a comfortable camp, from which,
however, they were driven by a saw mill owner named Andrew Felps,
who ran a rival concern to that in which Snap's father owned an
interest. The young hunters then moved to Firefly Lake, a mile
away, and there hunted and fished to their hearts' content. They
were frequently joined by old Jed Sanborn, a trapper who lived in
the mountains between the lakes. They had some trouble with Ham
Spink, a dudish young man of the town, who established a rival camp
not far off, and they came close to perishing during a disastrous
forest fire.
The summer outing made the boys hungry for more, and as soon as
the winter holidays were at hand they made arrangements to go
into the woods again, this time taking their outfits on sleds.
They had with them their snowshoes, and found the latter articles
very useful when out after game. They fixed up a comfortable
camp, and rescued a half-frozen tramp. But the tramp did not
appreciate what had been done for him and ran away with some of
their things, which brought on a lively pursuit. Then the boys
had more trouble with Ham Spink and his crony, Carl Dudder. In
the end it was discovered that Ham and Carl had gotten the tramp
to annoy the young hunters, and as a result Mr. Spink and Mr.
Dudder had to foot some heavy bills for their sons. Ham and Carl
were sent off to a strict boarding school, where their parents
hoped they would turn over a new leaf. Snap and his chums came
back home loaded down with game.
"The best outing ever!" declared more than one of the boys.
"We'll have to go again!"
"Yes, indeed!"
And then and there they began to plan what to do during the next
vacation.
"I've got an idea," said Snap, one day, during the spring. "Why
not get a good boat---one that will stand some hard knocks---and
go through Lake Cameron and Firefly Lake to Lake Narsac? Jed
Sanborn was telling me that was a fine place for hunting and fishing,
and the lake is as clear as crystal."
"It's an awfully wild place, so I was told," said Shep.
"About a million snakes up there, so I once heard," put in Whopper.
"Snakes are so thick you have to kick 'em out of your way to walk
around."
"Excuse me, I don't want any snakes," answered Giant, with a shiver.
"Somebody once told me the lake was haunted," said Snap. "But of
course that wouldn't scare us---we are not afraid of ghosts, are we?"
"No!" came from all of the others promptly.
"The ghost that tries to scare me will get his ear pinched," added
Giant, and said this so drolly that all had to laugh.
"One thing is sure," said Shep, after a pause, "with fish, game,
snakes and ghosts we'd certainly find enough to interest us, eh?"
"Is the lake very deep?" asked Giant.
"Jed Sanborn told me that you can't touch bottom in some places,"
answered Snap. "The lake lies right between three tall mountains.
He said we might have to carry our boat around some of the rocks
in the stream leading to it."
"Well, we can do that to---providing the boat isn't too heavy."
This talk led to many others, and in the end it was decided that
the four boys should start on the trip the week following the
Fourth of July. Then commenced active preparations. Guns were
cleaned, camping outfits overhauled, and the lads looked around
for just the right boat in which to make the trip. Through Mr.
Dodge a fine, strong craft was obtained; and then the lads waited
impatiently for the day to come when they should begin the outing
on the lake. They anticipated some adventures, but did not dream
of the curious happenings in store for them.