"No; if there's any shooting to be done I'll do it," announced Kris Kringle.
"And Santa Claus isn't shooting with any toy gun, this time," chuckled Chunky.
"Can you see the camp, to know if anyone is there?"
"Yes, but only part of it, Professor. I wish you would all get over into the right hand corner there and lie flat on the floor. I'm going to try to draw their fire so that I can locate them. Can't afford to waste ammunition until we are reasonably sure where our mark is."
The others quickly got into the position indicated.
Placing his hat on one of the pike poles, Kringle slowly pushed it outside.
There was no result, The ruse failed to draw the enemy's fire.
"Oh, they've gone. We're a lot of babies," jeered Ned, jumping up and starting for the opening.
Kris Kringle gave him a push with the butt of the rifle.
"Want, to get shot full of holes? Wait! I'll show you."