"Surely," replied Bob, pretending to throw aside his doubts, for he saw no reason why Sandy should share them; if trouble came they would know how to meet it. So they landed in the snug little cove. "Shall we stake the canoe out here in the rushes?" asked Sandy. "Not this time," replied Bob. "Take hold, and we will carry it up to that clump of bushes yonder. It can lie there safe until we come again." "Oh!" laughed Sandy, "I see you still believe the river will rise suddenly, and threaten to carry off our only means of getting home!" "Who knows?" replied the other, quite unmoved by the accusation; "and, if it did come, we would be very glad that we had taken time by the forelock. Besides, it is not much further." Having secreted the boat and both paddles, they concluded to go some little way back, to camp for the night. "We must do what Pat says all borderers do when in the enemy's country--make a very small fire to cook with, and hide that so that not even the keenest eye could discover it," observed Bob, as they walked on through the forest, both on the watch for game of any sort. "Well, it will be highly amusing, at least," admitted Sandy; "though, unless we are lucky enough to run across game very soon, we shall have to make our supper off that dried venison; and that I do not like." "Hist!" Bob suddenly caught the sleeve of his brother's hunting shirt. Following the direction in which the other seemed to be looking, Sandy caught a glimpse of some moving object to leeward. "A buffalo! Two, _three_ of them! Oh! Bob, what a chance!" he gasped. The other drew him down instantly, so that the bushes screened them. "Now let us crawl up as close as we dare. When we get within good gunshot we will both fire at the same time," he whispered in the ear of his companion. Bob, as usual, seemed perfectly calm, while of course the younger boy was fairly quivering with eagerness. Still, this would not prevent Sandy from giving a good account of himself when the time came to shoot, for he always fired off-hand at any rate, rather than by long sight, as some marksmen do. It was fortunate that the wind, what little seemed to be stirring through the forest just then, was coming from the feeding buffalo, and toward the hunters. This prevented the suspicious animals from scenting their human enemies. The boys made fair progress, taking advantage of clumps of bushes, trunks of trees, and fallen timber. "Slower," whispered Bob in his brother's ear. "They are getting uneasy. Notice how often that old bull throws up his head and sniffs the air? He trots away, only to come back again to his family. Now, again forward. This log will give us a good boost, I think." "We don't want the old bull," Sandy managed to say in the other's ear. "Hardly. He'd be too tough eating. You take the half-grown calf, and leave the cow to me," said the older hunter; and then made a gesture that prohibited further communications.