"Maybe we'd better take the sled along," suggested Ned, as he noticed it was beginning to snow. "If it gets deep enough we can haul the things on it, instead of on the wagon." The camp supplies, including a shelter tent, had been placed on a wagon, on which they were to be taken to where the boys decided to make their first camp. On the large vehicle was a smaller one, which the chums could load with all their stuff and haul through the woods, in case they found it advantageous to move to a section where there was better hunting. "Wait a minute, I've got an idea!" exclaimed Bart. "Make a note of it before you forget it!" called Fenn. "Good ideas are scarce." "We can take runners along for the small wagon," Bart went on, not noticing his chum's sarcasm. "There are some adjustable ones I made a couple of years ago. Then we'll be prepared for anything." The wagon was one the boys had built for themselves several seasons past. They used to cart their camp outfit on it when they did not transport the things by boat up or down the river. As Bart had said, there were adjustable runners, which could be fitted over the wheels, without taking them off, and thus on short notice the wagon could be transformed into a sled. It was a crisp November day, with a suggestion of more cold to come, and the first few flakes had been followed by others while the boys waited until Bart, whose hand was almost well again, got the runners from the cellar. "Looks as if we'd have quite a storm," remarked Jim Dodd, the driver of the express wagon, whom the boys had hired to take their stuff to a point about two miles inside the woods. The road, which was made by lumbermen, came to an end there. "Yes sir," Jim went on, "it's goin' t' be a good storm. You boys better stay home." "Not much!" cried Ned. "A storm is what we want." "I'd rather eat my Thanksgivin' turkey in a warm kitchen than in an old tent," Jim added with a laugh. "Oh, we'll be home for Thanksgiving," Fenn said, "and we'll have plenty of game to eat too." "Wish ye luck," was Jim's rejoinder. The adjustable runners were packed on the wagon, a last look given to see that everything was in place, and then, about nine o'clock the start was made. "Keep your thumb wrapped up!" Alice called after her brother. "Don't take cold. Drink some hot ginger tea every night before you boys go to bed. Keep your coats well buttoned up around your throats, don't get your feet wet and--" "Say, give us the books, sis," called Bart good-naturedly, "we can't remember all that. Good-bye!" "Good-bye!" called Alice, waving her hands to the chums. "Good-bye!" the four boys echoed. CHAPTER IV THE FIRST TURKEY "I must say you boys has got grit," remarked Jim, as the wagon lurched along, pitching like a ship in a storm because of the rough road. "Why?" asked Bart. "Leavin' your comfortable homes an' comin' out to a wilderness in winter. Land! I'd no more think of doin' it than I would of flyin'."