"I did. Go ahead, and I'll pick it up." They rowed on, and a
minute later Snap reached out of the boat and hauled in a fine
wild turkey that was still fluttering faintly. A twist of the
neck put it out of its misery, and the young hunter surveyed his
game with satisfaction.
"First prize goes to Snap!" cried Shep. "Boys, we are sure of
a turkey dinner to-morrow, anyway."
They continued on their journey, and at length came in sight of
Lake Cameron, surrounded by hills and the forest. A moment later
Whopper reached for his gun, took careful aim and fired.
"Only a rabbit," he announced. "But that is better than nothing."
"I should say it was," answered Giant, readily. "I'd like to
bring down a game-bag full of them. Think of the rabbit pot-pie
we could make!"
"Here goes for something," whispered Shep, and fired at a squirrel
running around on a fallen tree. But the little creature was
too nimble for him and got away unharmed.
"There is no use of my trying to get a shot at anything," announced
Giant. "The noise has scared away the rest of the game. As soon
as we land I am going to try my hand at fishing."
"You can do that now," replied Snap. "I'll take your oar. There
are some flies in yonder little red box, and the white box had
a few worms in it."
"I'll try a worm and look for a perch or two," answered the small lad.
He soon had his line out and baited up and began to troll at the
end of the boat. In a few minutes he got a bite and pulled up
a fair-sized perch. A sunfish followed, then a sucker, and then
two more perch.
"What's the matter with that?" he asked, rather proudly.
"Nothing at all, Giant," answered Shep. "Shall I help?"
Giant agreed, and soon Shep had brought in another perch. By
this time they had come to a suitable landing, and the rowboat
was turned in and hauled well up on the shelving shore.
"I fancy this will make a good camping spot for to-night;" said
Snap. "In the morning we can decide upon what we want to do next."
"All right," said Shep. "Let us start up a camp-fire and make
ourselves 'to hum,' as the old folks used to say."
Any quantity of dry sticks were to be had, and they had brought
with them both an ax and a hatchet, so they soon had the sticks
reduced to a proper size for burning. Near the shore were a number
of bushes, and they cut out a spot in the center of these and
over the top spread the canvas they had brought with them. For
a flooring, they gathered some leaves, and over this spread a
rubber blanket when it came time to go to bed.
It was very homelike and cheerful, gathering around the campfire,
and all of the boys took a hand at preparing the supper which
consisted of fried fish, baked potatoes, sandwiches, cake and
coffee. They took their time over the meal, and did not finish
until after eight o'clock. Then they sat around for an hour discussing
their plans and telling stories.
"Now, the question comes up, do we stand guard at night?" asked Snap.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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