The news quickly spread through the town that the Gun Club was going away on another outing, and many envied our friends their coming pleasures. Ham Spink and Carl Rudder looked sour over the prospects.
"Where are they going?" asked Carl.
"To Firefly Lake, to their old camp."
After this announcement both boys looked at each other suggestively.
"It will be moonlight to-night, and we can easily skate twenty or twenty-five miles," suggested Ham.
"So we can, Ham. Let us do it, and—fix things."
"We will," said Ham firmly.
As soon as it was settled that our friends were to go away before Christmas, and remain away over the holidays, they received from their parents several gifts in advance. All obtained snowshoes—picked out for them by their old hunter friend, Jed Sanborn—and they also procured an extra gun, an extra sled, and some warm camp blankets. They still possessed their old camp outfit and so it was an easy matter to gather the things together and get everything ready for the start. The outfit was packed upon two good-sized sleds and well fastened.
"I suppose we ought to have skated up to the camp and inspected things," observed Snap. "But I have been too busy to do so."
"Oh, I reckon everything is as we left it," answered Whopper.