“Well, we got something, anyhow,” said Fred with satisfaction, as they continued to follow the watercourse toward the lake.
“One fine shot you made, Fred,” answered Randy.
“Fred, I don’t know what I should have done if you hadn’t brought him down,” put in Andy. “He might have come to the top of the tree after me.”
“Oh, I guess he was more scared than we were,” answered the stout Rover boy modestly. Yet, behind it all, he felt quite proud of the shot he had made. It had been at close range and he had had to think and act quickly.
The relaxation from the intensity of the situation was felt by all of the lads, and long before the bungalow was reached they were in a merry humor, singing, joking and whistling loudly.
“I’ll tell you what we might have done,” said Gif. “We might have set a bear trap and used that wildcat for a bait.”
“Would the bear go into such a trap?” questioned Jack. “I thought they didn’t care very much for meat, especially in the summer time. I thought they liked roots and things like that better.”
“We might have put some maple sugar in the trap with the meat,” answered Gif. “Bears like sweets, you know.”
The boys arrived at the bungalow about sundown. All were too tired for a while to do more than sit around and rest. Finally, however, they prepared themselves a simple evening meal, and almost as soon as this was disposed of one after another shoved off to bed.