"I wouldn't like to say for sure," came the reply, "but as near as I could make out that would cover the bill."
"Huh! and we count six, all told," continued the tall scout, indifferently, although Thad imagined he was not feeling so comfortable as he pretended to be.
"Yes, six boys," the scout-master reminded him.
"But husky boys in the bargain, and accustomed to taking care of themselves in tight places," Giraffe went on to remark, proudly. "Besides, ain't we got a gun that shoots twice? That ought to account for a couple of the rascals; and then what would one poor fish poacher be against a half dozen lively fellows, tell me that?"
Allan laughed at hearing the boast.
"How easy it is to figure out who's going to win the next championship in the National League of baseball clubs, while you're sitting around the stove in the winter time?" he told Giraffe. "But these paper victories seldom pan out the same way when the good old summer time comes along, and the boys get hustling. I suppose now, Giraffe, you'll be the one to knock over those two men, each with a single shot from your faithful double-barrel. Give him the gun, Step Hen, and let him start in right away."
Of course that rather startled the tall scout.
"Hold on there, don't be in such a big hurry!" he went on to say, holding up a hand to persuade Step Hen to keep the firearm a while longer. "Course now I didn't exactly mean it that way. I never wanted to shoot a man, that I know of. What I had in my mind, I reckon, was that one of us could keep a pair of these rascals covered with the shotgun, and hold 'em steady, while the other five managed the third of the bunch. See?"
"The trouble is," Thad told them, "none of us know French, and in that case we mightn't be able to talk with the poachers, even if they gave us half a chance. They seem to have a bad case of the rattles right now, and if it wasn't for the storm I really believe they'd get away from here in a hurry."
"Do we want 'em to go, or stay?" asked Bumpus, as though he could not settle in his own mind which one of these several openings would be best for their interests.