Charlie produced his fire-arms promptly. He had an air gun, a bow and arrow, and a toy pistol. The little girls were quite awed.
Then began a very delightful day. Charity was perfectly happy peeling and boiling some potatoes and onions, and putting a bit of bacon in her saucepan over a wood fire, just outside the hut. Charlie went across the fields with Hope and Faith, tracking all kinds of wild animals. The only thing that spoiled Faith's enjoyment was that he actually shot a rat with his air gun; and when he pursued it into a corner behind a haystack, he finished it with a stout stick. Faith fled from him shuddering, when he held it up to her by its tail.
"You little stupid! It's a—a skunk—an awful smelling animal which needs to be buried at once, but it is a very good kind of creature to kill."
"Oh, bury it quick!" cried Faith, "Don't let me see the poor thing—it's cruel to kill anything."
"But I'm a hunter," said Charlie. "Oh, what a shame it is I have only girls to play with!"
"I'm not like Faith," asserted Hope. "Don't mind her, she's always fussing over dead things. Aunt Alice lets Spicer catch the mice, and this is a rat. There's no difference."
Faith tried to hide her horror. She liked the stalking after game, but she was always glad when the rabbit fled away, and the bird flew off out of reach of Charlie's gun.
At seven o'clock that evening, Aunt Alice went out to call the little girls in. She found them all sitting on the ground inside the tent listening to one of Charlie's stories. The fire was blazing away merrily outside. They were very loth to leave their play. Aunt Alice made them put out the fire, and Charlie took a reluctant departure. He left all his skins with them.
"I'm going to drive with Dad to-morrow, but perhaps I can come round the next day," he said. And then he went off.
"Oh, Aunt Alice, we have enjoyed ourselves," Charity said. "And our dinner was delicious. And in the afternoon I joined the hunters and we went through the woods for miles, and we saw a squirrel and a weasel. Charlie knows such a lot about the woods, and he knows every bird by name."