They now returned to the house.
“It must be nice to have bears!” said Charlie. “What a good time I might have if I was on my place, making traps, setting guns, and hunting!”
“It ain’t so very nice,” said Joe, “to work hard, and raise a piece of corn, then just as it is in the milk, and growing as fast as it can, have a whole army of bears and coons waiting to destroy it the moment you shut your eyes.”
The boys, when they retired, thought they should certainly hear the gun if it went off in the night; but instead of this, they slept so soundly they did not wake till Joe called at sunrise.
“Has the gun gone off?” cried Charlie, almost before his eyes were open.
“Don’t know. Didn’t hear it. Didn’t calculate to.”
“Is there any bear in the trap?” cried John.
“Haven’t been to see.”
The boys were quickly dressed, and all three were on their way to the cornfield.
“It’s sprung! Hurrah! The trap’s sprung!” shouted Charlie, standing on tiptoe, and looking ahead.