Evidently the shots at the partridges had scared much of the game away, for at the upper end of the island they started up nothing but two squirrels and a few wild pigeons. Then they came down the north shore and there bagged two rabbits. They also saw a wild turkey, but it got away before anybody could take aim at it.
“See, it has started to snow!” cried the senator’s son, presently, and he was right. At first the flakes were few, but inside of five minutes it was snowing steadily.
“We may as well start for the Hall,” said Dave. “This storm looks as if it might last for some time.”
They left the shore and soon reached the edge of the island. By this time the snowflakes were coming down so thickly that the boys could see but little around them. The sky was now growing quite dark.
“I don’t like this,” was Phil’s comment. “We’ll have no fun of it getting back to school, especially if the snow gets so deep that we can’t skate on the ice.”
“Say, this puts me in mind of a story,” commenced Shadow. “Once two boys were caught in a storm and——”
“We haven’t any time for yarns now, Shadow!” cried Dave. “It’s back to the camping place as fast as we can get there, and then off for school, unless we want to be snowed in along the route!”
All started across the island, which, at that point, was not over seventy-five yards wide. They came out at a spot just above where they had stopped for lunch. Soon all of them stood close to where lay the remains of the campfire, now covered with the fast-falling snow.
“Hello! What does this mean?”
“Where is the hamper?”