"Here she is," exclaimed Bart, and then, forgetting his sore hand, he took from the corner a fine shotgun. "It's a beauty," he went on. "It's got patent--" "Oh! Oh!" screamed Alice. "Your hand!" CHAPTER II PREPARING FOR A HUNT "What's the matter with my hand?" asked Bart holding the gun in the one that had been injured. "Why you've taken it from the sling. The blood will rush to it and--and--" "Oh, I guess it's all right," spoke Bart carelessly, as he held up the gun. "You see fellows, this is the patent ejector, and the barrels--" "Well of all things!" exclaimed Alice. "I spend a lot of time fixing up your injury and you go and undo all my work in a minute. I never saw such a boy!" "How did you hurt yourself?" asked Ned. "I had just loaded both barrels and put the gun on the table. It fell off and something hit one of the triggers or the hammers and it banged out like a cannon. My hand was in the way, that's all." "Hurt much?" inquired Fenn. "Not much," was Bart's careless answer. But an exclamation of pain escaped him as he hit his bruised fingers against the gun stock. "There!" exclaimed Alice. "I knew you'd do something wrong. Now I suppose it will start bleeding again," and she turned back as if to undo the bandage. "Never mind!" spoke Bart quickly. "I'll stick some court plaster on if it does. Say Alice get us some cake and lemonade, please." Alice agreed and while she prepared the beverage and got some cakes from the pantry, in which interval the four boys talked nothing but gun, there is an opportunity of making you better acquainted with them. It's hard to be introduced to a person when he has sustained a smashed thumb, so it is, perhaps, just as well that the formal presentation was postponed until now. Bart Keene, Ned Wilding, Frank Roscoe and Fenn Masterson, (who was called Stumpy, for short, because of his rather limited height and breadth of beam), were four boys who lived in the town of Darewell. This was located not far from Lake Erie, on the Still River, a stream in which the boys fished, swam and upon which they spent many hours in their big rowboat. With the exception of Frank Roscoe, the boys lived in the heart of the town. Their parents were fairly well off, and the boys had been chums since they attended primary school together. In fact, when their companionship continued on through the grammar school and into the high school, they became such a town fixture, in a way, that they were known as "The Darewell Chums." Those of you who have read the first volume of this series, entitled "The Heroes of the School," know what sort of lads the four were. Those of you who are meeting them for the first time may be glad of a little sketch of their characters.