“Mr. Ware and I had many long talks, and tried many experiments before he could decide upon the very best size of cartridge for this larger barrel. You see there scores of different kinds and sizes to choose from. There are cartridges almost as long and about the same shape as a lead pencil, with steel jacketed bullets that will travel two or three miles, and go through six feet thickness of wood at short range. It is the fad among hunters these days to use that kind. But if a man is a real hunter he doesn’t need them.
“Mr. Ware was a real hunter. When he pulled the trigger he knew just where the bullet was going to land. And when a man is that kind of a shot he doesn’t have to use a bullet that will shoot through six feet of pine wood. So he picked out one of the older style of cartridges, one that we call the .38-40, which is only half as long as the lead-pencil kind. By using a steel jacketed bullet and smokeless powder this cartridge is powerful enough to kill any kind of game in this region, if you strike the right spot.
“So don’t get the idea, just because this gun won’t shoot a bullet through an old fashioned battleship, that it’s a plaything. It will penetrate eighteen inches of pine wood, and the force of its blow is very nearly that of a good big load of hay falling off a sled. This little three-pound gun—just a boy’s sparrow gun to look at—shoots farther and hits harder than the best rifle old Daniel Boone ever owned. And yet Boone and his friends cleaned out all the Indians and most of the big game in several States. So you see you’ve got the better of Boone and all the great hunters and Indian killers of his day—that is, as far as the gun is concerned. To-morrow I will begin teaching you how to use it as a hunter should; but now we had better turn in, for there are hard days ahead of us.”
And so Larry crawled into his snug fur-lined bag, too excited to wish to sleep, but so exhausted by the hard day’s work that his eyes would not stay open.
CHAPTER IV
LESSONS IN PILOTING
At daylight the next morning old Martin roused the boy, reminding him that he “was to begin learning his trade” that day. “And there are many things to learn about this land-piloting, too,” he told him. Meanwhile the old hunter took the axe and went into the woods for fuel while Larry was putting on his shoes and his coat—the only garments he had removed on going to bed the night before.
The air was very cold and everything frozen hard, and Larry’s teeth were chattering before Martin returned and started the fire. “Now notice how I lay these sticks and make this fire,” Martin instructed. “I am making it to cook our breakfast over, so I’ll build it in a very different way from what I should if I only wanted it for heating our tent. Learning how to build at least three different kinds of fires is a very important part of your education.”
The old man selected two small logs about four feet long and seven inches in diameter. He laid these side by side on the ground, separating them at one end a distance of about six inches and at the other end something over a foot. In the space between the logs he laid small branches and twigs, and lighted them, and in a jiffy had a hot fire going.
Larry noticed that Martin had placed the logs so that they lay at right angles to the direction from which the wind was blowing; and now as the heat thawed out the ground, the hunter took a sharp pointed stick and dug away the earth from under the log almost its whole length on the windward side. The wind, sucking in under this, created a draught from beneath, which made the fire burn fiercely.
Then Martin placed two frying pans filled with slices of ham and soggy, grease-covered bread over the fire, the tops of the two logs holding the pans rigidly in place. Next he took the wide-bottomed coffee pot, filled it with water, threw in a handful of coffee, and placed the pot at the end where the logs were near enough together to hold it firmly.