The Outdoor Chums; Or, The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club — John Shaqi
The Outdoor Chums; Or, The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera ClubAllen, Quincy
General
The Outdoor Chums; Or, The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club
Allen, Quincy
Camping -- Juvenile fiction
"Oh! come, I wasn't opposed to it in the start, only you stunned me by
such a sudden and glorious idea. We'll meet with some opposition at home,
I expect; but where there's a will there's a way; and I move we make it
unanimous!" Will Milton hastened to remark.
"Bravo! consider it carried; and just to think what a chance it will be
for me to try out my new outfit!" exclaimed the fourth boy, he who had
been called by the queer name of "Bluff" by one of his comrades;
possibly because, being the only son of a prominent lawyer, Dick Masters
may have been addicted to the habit of putting up a bold face even when
his heart was weak.
Jerry looked at him rather superciliously at this remark, and threw up
his hands in a manner to indicate discouragement.
"I'm genuinely sorry for the feathered and furry game of the woods when
the Great Hunter breaks loose with that terrible pump-gun. Mighty little
chance for anything to get away after _that_ is leveled, and the Gatling
opens fire," he remarked scornfully.
"Huh! it's all very well for you to talk that way, Jerry, because you
happen to be a fine shot, and can bag your game the first clip; but
what's a fellow going to do when he finds it difficult to hit a barn? I'd
like to wager that with all your high-falutin' talk you do more
execution among the poor game than comes to my share," answered Bluff,
indignantly.
"Oh! well, have it your own way. I've tried my best to show you what a
genuine sportsman should be like, always giving the game a fair chance.
Didn't I induce you to quit fishing with that murderous gang-hook last
summer; and when you did finally get a bass didn't you feel prouder than
if you just '_yanked_' him in, perhaps caught on the outside of his gills
with some of that deadly jewelry?" demanded Jerry, whose one hobby was
the "square deal" in all that he undertook.
"I acknowledge the corn about the gang-hook; but that has nothing to do
with an up-to-date, repeating shotgun, and other things such as modern
campers use. I've kept posted, and I know what's going on. Some people
seem to be asleep, and are just contented to do as their forefathers did.
I'm progressive, that's what."
"Well, boys," Frank Langdon here broke in with, "suppose you postpone
that old chestnut of a dispute until we're snug in camp; and let's
talk about how the thing can be done. The first thing is to get
consent at home."
"I don't believe we need fear any trouble there. Frank, you call us up on
the 'phone in about an hour, and if everything's lovely and the goose
hangs high we'll meet at my house and make definite arrangements," said
Will, whose mother was a well-to-do widow, and seldom refused her
idolized son any reasonable request.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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