Leon took a quick aim at his head and pulled the trigger. There was a commotion among the leaves, a howl of anguish, and when the smoke cleared away, the boys saw Bugle running at full speed through the woods, yelping loudly at every jump. He was out of sight in an instant.
"There!" exclaimed Leon. "Go and hunt up your master, and tell him to keep his hands off my snares in future."
"Let's dig out," said Frank hastily. "Oscar can't be far away, and you don't want him to find you here."
No, Leon had not the slightest desire to meet Bugle's master after what he had done. He had talked very glibly about teaching Oscar to mind his own business if he could only get within reach of him for a few minutes, but he knew very well that that was something he could not do.
Oscar was a young athlete, even if he was nothing but a market-shooter. Although he was a few months younger than Leon, he was a good deal larger and stronger, and it would have been no trouble at all for him to take Leon by the collar with one hand and Frank with the other, and give them both a hearty shaking.
Probably Leon was afraid he would do it if he caught them, for he lost no time in acting upon his cousin's suggestion to "dig out." He ran so swiftly that he very soon left Frank behind, and the latter, who was quickly out of breath, begged him to hold up.
"What makes you take to this rough ground?" panted Frank, as he toiled up a high hill which his cousin had climbed in his rapid flight.
"Because the woods are thicker up here, and afford us better hiding-places," was Leon's answer.
"Well, there's no need that we should run ourselves to death," said Frank, as he seated himself on a huge bowlder and drew his handkerchief across his forehead, "and I'll not go another step."