“Huh! I’d have carried in an elephant if it had dropped to my gun, I felt that good!” declared the happy hunter.
“But all the adventures haven’t fallen to you fellows who stayed here in camp or wandered about in the adjacent woods,” announced Tom, mysteriously.
“What else have you been doing besides catching that dandy mess of fish?” asked the scout-master, voicing the curiosity of the entire crowd.
“Say! did you shoot some game, too—a deer, a wildcat, or maybe a big black bear?” demanded Bobolink, eagerly.
“No, the gun was never fired,” continued Tom. “But we’ve got a right to turn our badges over for this day, because we performed a Good Samaritan act.” 132
“Go on and tell us about it!” urged Sandy Griggs.
“We heard groans, and weak calls for help,” said Tom, unable to keep back his news any longer, though he would have liked very much to continue tantalizing the others, “and after we had kicked off our skates and hung our packs in a tree, we went over into the woods and found––”
“What?” roared several of the curious scouts in unison.
“Who but our fellow townsman, Sim Jeffreys, whining and groaning to beat the band,” continued the narrator. “It seems that he had got caught in a trap, and expected to be frozen to death to-night, or starve there to-morrow.”
“A trap, did ye say?” asked Tolly Tip. And Paul noticed a sudden look of enlightenment come into his face.