"You'll have to kill a bear a day to make up the number you said you'd bring down," answered, Giant.
"Pooh! I never kill bears singly," sniffed Whopper. "I always kill them in pairs or by the half dozen."
"We've got to make sure that we can go first," said Shep. "Remember the school averages."
They did remember, and all were very anxious concerning the examinations to come off before the term closed. They studied hard, and came out with an average of eight-eight to ninety-four per cent.
"Good!" said Snap. "Our folks can't find fault with such records." And nobody did find fault. On the contrary, the boys received not a little praise, and permission to go on the winter outing was readily granted.
"Let us start next Monday," said Giant, who was impatient to get away.
"I doubt if we can get ready so quickly," answered Shep. "There is a good deal to do, you know."
"Then make it Tuesday," pleaded Giant.
"The ice on the river is perfect, so it will be the easiest thing in the world to skate to the lake and drag our sleds after us."
It had already been decided that they should go into camp at Firefly Lake, where they had left their summer shelter only a few months before. Firefly Lake was a beautiful sheet of water, or ice, located a mile from Lake Cameron, and about eleven miles from Fairview. To get to this spot they had to go to Lake Cameron first and then along a narrow watercourse which united the two sheets of water.