CHAPTER XXIII
AFTER MOUNTAIN BROOK MINK
"Shoot him, Whopper!"
Such was the exclamation from all of the others, and in haste the lad named took hasty aim and pulled the trigger.
The shot was a poor one, the charge merely tearing across the side of the water snake. With another hiss it whipped around and in a twinkling had itself curled around Whopper's left leg.
"Hi! take him off! Take him off!" screamed the young hunter, in terror. "Don't let him bite me!"
Snap sprang forward. His one idea was to save his chum, and he did not think of his own peril.
"Beware!" cautioned Giant.
Watching his chance, Snap put his foot on the tail of the water snake. The reptile whipped around wildly and wound itself about the lower limbs of both boys.
"I'll get a gun!" yelled Shep, and made a dash for the nearest of the firearms.
"Don't shoot us!" called out Whopper.
Catching up a weapon, Shep came up close and let drive almost in the face of the water snake. It was a telling shot, and the reptile whipped wildly this way and that. Then it fell into the water and was quickly lost to sight.
"Is—-is he gone?" gasped Whopper.
"Yes," answered Giant. "Shep finished him."
"That was no joke," said Snap, when he could speak. He was trembling from head to foot.
"A joke? Well, I reckon not!" spluttered Whopper. "Ugh! It makes me shiver to think about it."
"Let us get out of here," came from Snap. "Remember, where there is one snake there may be more."
"Then I am going to quit right now!" cried Shep, and lost no time in leaving the neighborhood, followed by the others.
The boys concluded that they had had adventures enough for one day and went back to camp. Here two of the lads set to work to make a rabbit pot-pie, with dumplings. They had seen such things made at home and went at the task with care. When the pot-pie was served all declared it "the best ever." Perhaps the dumplings were a trifle heavy, but what of that? Living in the open air had sharpened their appetites wonderfully and nobody was disposed to quarrel over the meal.
The next day was rather cold and misty and they kept in or near the cabin. Snap had brought some extra sugar and also some chocolate along, and the morning was devoted to candy-making, some with nuts and some without. The candy was very good, and while they ate a fair share, the rest was put away, to be eaten a little at a time.
So far, since leaving their first camp, they had not seen or heard of Andrew Felps, but that afternoon an old hunter strolled into their locality and asked if they could furnish him with a meal and a shakedown until morning, offering three rabbits in payment.
"I think we can accommodate you," said Snap. "And you can keep your rabbits."
The face of the old hunter looked familiar, and while he was eating, it came out that his name was Jack Dalton and that he had been one of the two guides who had come up to Lake Cameron with the Felps party.
"I got sick of working for that crowd," said jack Dalton. "They wanted to make a regular nigger of me and I up and told Felps I wouldn't stand for it."
"Is the other guide with them?" asked Shep.
"Humph! Dad Begow ain't no reg'lar guide—-he's only a camp follower—-dish-washer, an' like that. He pertends to be a guide, but he ain't no good at shootin'. Yes, he's with 'em, but he only stayed because they raised his wages. They wanted to raise mine when they saw I was really goin', but I told 'em money wasn't everything."
"I don't wonder that you got sick of Andrew Felps," put in Giant.
"You know how he treated is."
"It was dirt mean, lad, an' I about told him so, too. But the Felpses always was a hard crowd to deal with. He thought he was gettin' one in on Mr. Dodge when he fired you out."
"I thought as much," said Snap. "He is very bitter against my father."
"It is because of the lumber business—-he wanted the tract of lumber to cut that the Barnaby Company got hold of," went on Jack Dalton. "How are you a-makin' it?"
"Fine!" said Snap, and then he and his chums told of all the game that had been brought down—-they having kept a record in a little book the leader of the gun club carried.
"That's first-class, boys," said the guide. "Couldn't be better. Now, all they got were two wild turkeys, some rabbits and one small deer. I led 'em to a fine herd o' deer, but they wanted to do the shootin' all alone. When it came time to let drive, Felps and one o' the other men got buck fever and shot wild, and most of the deer got away. That was one thing made me sick. They can't shoot fer sour apples."
"And they'll blame their ill luck on you, when they get home," said Whopper.
"More'n likely. But I don't care fer thet. Folks in these parts know what Jack Dalton kin do. Jest you ask Jed Sanborn about it."
"Yes, Sanborn has spoken about you," answered Snap. "He said you had brought down some of the biggest deer and bears in these parts."
"Exactly so, boy, although I don't want to blow about it. Tootin' yer own horn ain't perlite. But I ain't afraid o' what sech a feller as Andy Felps says."
That night Jack Dalton told them the story of a bear hunt, which was more than ordinarily interesting. He said that bears were by no means plentiful in the lake region and yet there were a few around, some of pretty fair size.
"You'll run across one when ye least expect it," said the old hunter. "When that happens, take your time an' shoot to kill. If ye don't, Mr. Bear may come up an' hug you to death, jess fer the fun o' it."
"I am going to set a bear trap," said one of the boys, and told of the plan, which was approved by Jack Dalton.
Before leaving the next morning the old hunter told them where he thought they could bring down a mink or two, and after his departure they set off, to see what luck they might have.
The weather was now getting colder and there was a promise of snow in the air. Yet about ten o'clock the sun broke through the clouds and then it grew a bit warmer.
"A little snow will make hunting very fine," declared Snap, as they trudged along. "As it is now, it is next to impossible to track any big game."
The spot Jack Dalton had mentioned was nearly two miles from their camp, along a rocky watercourse flowing into a small lake between Lake Cameron and Firefly Lake. Here, among the rocks, was a favorite haunt of the mountain brook mink, as they are popularly called.
As they neared the locality, the young hunters looked to their weapons and then advanced with caution. The water, gurgling over the rocks, drowned the sounds of their advance, and so they came upon the mink without being discovered.
Two of the animals were in sight, one on either side of the small stream. As all wanted the honor of bringing down the mink, Shep and Snap fired at one and Whopper and Giant at the other. The aim of the boy hunters was true, and the game dropped down where they stood.
"Fine mink these," declared Snap, after an examination. "Just look at the heavy fur."
"You are right," answered Whopper. "But the fur will he thicker yet later in the season."
With the mink in their game-bags, they pushed on up the tiny watercourse and not long after roused up some partridge, the game going up with a rush that at first scared them. But they shot as quickly as they could, and each had a partridge to his credit.
"This day is opening finely," declared Whopper. "We are bound to get about a hundred birds and animals, I'll wager."
"That's right, pile it on," answered Shep, with a grin. "I thought you had been keeping down lately."
"Oh, a hundred is nothing," said Whopper, airily. "Maybe I'll get that many myself. I once heard of a man who shot two hundred wild turkeys in a day."
"I don't call that sport," put in Giant. "I call that butchery."
"So do I," answered Snap. "Even as it is, I sometimes think we are shooting too much."
"Well, if we don't bring the game down somebody else will," said
Whopper.
"Some day they'll have to pass some more laws, protecting game," was Shep's comment. "If they don't, there won't be anything to shoot inside of the next fifteen or twenty years."
"My father said that some folks were advocating a law to stop all deer-shooting for two years or longer," said Shep. "That would give them a chance to multiply."
"Well, I am going to shoot what I can—-now I am out here," said
Whopper.