Almost every boy has his own way of enjoying himself, and Sam Hynes found all his recreation in wild-fowl shooting. He went fishing sometimes, because he liked to be on the river; but he could see no fun in jerking a string up and down in the water all day, and he preferred to lie back in the boat and watch the clouds as they floated over his head.
He could see no sport, either, in tramping about the woods, carrying a heavy gun on his shoulders; but when it came to shooting over decoys, Sam was wide awake and perfectly at home.
He was the best fellow in the world to go hunting with, too. If a sudden shower drenched him to the skin, and wet his powder so that his gun could not be discharged, if the birds flew wild, and he returned at night with no more game than he had when he started out in the morning, it was all the same to Sam. No one ever heard a word of complaint from him.
He knew how to roast a duck over the flames on a forked stick, and could get up so tempting a dinner from the contents of his lunch-basket that he was in great demand among the young Nimrods of the village, and could have accepted invitations for every Saturday in the year, if he had been so disposed. But he preferred to hunt with Oscar.
The latter owned some very fine decoys, which he had made and painted himself, and he knew how to use them, too. More than that—he was a very lucky young sportsman, and those who went with him seldom returned empty-handed.
After taking leave of his friend, Oscar continued his walk toward home, and before he got there he had finished his problem in mental arithmetic, and arrived at the conclusion that he was in a fair way to extricate himself from his financial difficulties, and that if the good luck that had followed him ever since he was discharged from the store would only continue for one short year, he would be all out of debt, and have something in the bank to draw on in case of emergency.
When Oscar reached home he showed his mother the letter he had received, and after spending a few minutes in conversation with her on the subject of market-shooting and his chances for making money out of it, he went into his work-shop and resumed his work.
On Friday afternoon the case was completed, and it was only necessary to wait until the paint on the inside should become dry, so that he could put up the tree he had made and place the birds upon it.