A straight line was kept for the shack of the old trapper, and when they finally reached the place it was to find Jesse just starting out. "Why, hello, boys, glad to see ye," he said, shaking hands all around, gravely. "And I'll be hanged, if thar ain't Jerry, big as life. I was gettin' uneasy about ye, lad, an' just startin' to follow up your route through the big timber. Ye see, I kinder thought ye might a-fallen foul o' them fierce wild dogs I told ye about." Both Frank and Will laughed. "Well, he did all right, just that same thing. And we're on our way now to see where he left the critters," declared Will. "Left 'em--looky here, ye don't mean to tell me--it can't be possible now he fit that hull pack, an' got out o' it alive?" exclaimed the trapper. Then Jerry, with a laugh, dangled the four tails before his startled eyes. CHAPTER XX PROVING HIS CLAIM "Jerusalem! I surely believes he's gone an' done it!" exclaimed old Jesse Wilcox. Frank and Will burst out into a laugh. "Do you recognize these tails then, trapper?" asked the former; "because we even accused Jerry of trying to palm off some substitute on us for the originals?" "Oh! them there is original tails all right. How did ye do it, youngster? An' if they ever was fierce dogs, that pack filled the bill. I'd kinder hated to be up agin 'em myself; an' you on'y a boy!" "A boy armed with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buck is able to do just as much as a man, I suppose. I got my deer, too, Jesse, thanks to the directions you gave me. It was a bully old time all around," said Jerry, contentedly. "Well, I should smile to mention it. Ye take the cake, Jerry. An' now ye want me to lead ye thar, I s'pose. Can ye describe the place well enough for me to recognize it?" asked the trapper. "Possibly I can. Let's see, I remember that there was a queer-looking oak standing close by--three trees in one, as though sprouts had grown up when the parent trunk was smashed by lightning long ago. Remember having seen anything like that in your trips through the big timber, Jesse?" asked the other, seriously. The trapper smiled. "Why, it's right easy. I know that place as well as I do my own dooryard. Shot a stag down by them three oaks myself ten years ago come Christmas. So that's whar ye met up with the dog pack, was it? All right, if so be ye are ready, we kin start right off," he remarked eagerly. All of the others were equally anxious to proceed, Jerry because he wished to prove his hunting triumphs, and his chums to see the evidence of his valor. Will, no doubt, still hoped to induce the victor to attempt some sort of running stunt in connection with the tree and the dead dogs, that would form the basis of a striking picture. Going in a bee line, as led by the sagacious trapper, who knew the woods like a book, the little company did not spend more than an hour on the way. "Thar's yer three oaks, son; now tell us jest whar ye was when ye shot that deer."