"Oh, there's nothing to be alarmed about," answered Frank, as he unslung the game-bag from his shoulder and handed it to his cousin. "If you had been in such scrapes as often as I have, you would think nothing of it." "Perhaps not; but I almost wish I had gone to school," said Leon honestly. "What will become of us when father finds out that we have played hookey? That's what bothers me." "It needn't bother you, for he's not going to find it out," was Frank's encouraging reply. "We'll enjoy ourselves in the woods for a day or two, and then we'll go back to our Latin and geometry again. I'll write the excuse. Don't spoil a good day's sport by worrying over that." Having put the lunch in his game-bag Leon slung it over his shoulder, picked up his gun, and opening a back door struck out across a wide field that lay between the barn and the nearest piece of woods, closely followed by his cousin. They walked rapidly, looking back now and then to make sure that they were keeping the barn between themselves and the house, and it was not until they had climbed the fence and plunged into the woods that Leon felt safe from discovery. Then he drew a long breath of satisfaction and slackened his pace. "If I stood as much in fear of my father as you do of yours, I wouldn't stay with him," said Frank, who seemed to be perfectly at his ease. "I'd run away from him." It was right on the point of Leon's tongue to tell his cousin that he had long ago resolved to do that very thing; but he didn't say it, for he was not sure that it would be quite safe to trust Frank with his secret. "I have often thought I should like to go out West and live as those hunters and trappers do," continued Frank. "Wouldn't it be jolly to have a snug cabin somewhere in the mountains, and nothing to do but attend to your traps every day and hunt the big game that is so abundant out there?" This very thought had often suggested itself to Leon's lively imagination, and he had made up his mind that some day he would live in just that way. "I shall see that country before long," Frank went on. "Father is going to California on business next year, and he has promised that if I will behave myself while I am here in Eaton, he will take me with him. If I like the looks of things as well as I think I shall, you'll never see me among civilized people again." "Will you stay out there and become a hunter?" asked Leon. "Yes, sir!" "But what would you say to your father?" "I shouldn't say anything to him. When I found a place that suited me, I would slip away from him, and let him come home without me." "But you have lived in the city all your life, and what do you know about the Western country?" "I could learn all about it, couldn't I? I am a pretty good shot with a rifle, and I should try to work myself in somewhere as post-hunter. Others have done it, and I don't see why I couldn't." "What is a post-hunter?" asked Leon.