"I've had something to do with both kinds of sport," said Frank, seriously; "and I want to say right here that I certainly believe hunting with a camera beats the gun business all hollow. You get in closer touch with the little animals when you're only trying to take their pictures, and not harm them. I warrant now Will often counts them as his friends, and that they show little fear of him."
That launched the camera advocate into a fervent description of many meetings with his coy subjects, and the tricks he was compelled to resort to in order to let them understand he meant them no harm.
So the evening passed pleasantly.
There was nothing in the way of a disturbance to break in upon their sleep. Will had posted his camera trap a full quarter of a mile away, and even if it worked at any time during the night they would not know it.
The moon arose about the middle of the night, but none of the boys had any use for the battered lantern in the sky, since they remained under the cabin roof until morning broke.
As before, they took a little dip in the cold waters of the lake in order to get in good trim for a warm day. Then breakfast followed, and was heartily enjoyed, although with their healthy appetites there was nothing wonderful about that.
Each of them had laid out plans for the morning.
"We'll give the bass a rest for one day," remarked Bluff; "because if we make it too common the zest of catching and eating them is apt to wear away. Besides, I don't believe it's as good a morning for fishing as yesterday was. Then, we'd have to use that little mosquito netting seine, and get some more minnows."
"Last but not least," laughingly added Jerry, "the cranky old tub of a boat leaks again like a sieve, and some of us ought to get busy patching it up while we have a chance."
"Yes," said Will, who of course knew that the job would never fall to his share, "I always believe in having everything ready beforehand; because you never know in what a big hurry it may be needed."