Four Boy Hunters Part 21

While they were in the cave all thought concerning the deer had been vanished, but now they were at liberty once more the four young hunters were just as eager as ever to get a shot at the game.

"We must hurry if we want to do anything," said Snap. "It is such a gloomy day that it will be dark soon and then the deer will surely give us the slip."

On they went, up the mountainside, but now taking care that they should go into no more caves. Thus several hundred feet were covered.

Then of a sudden, Snap held up his hand.

"Hark!"

All listened and heard a crashing in the brushwood. Like a flash, five deer leaped into view, rushing across a small opening. They saw the boys and were out of sight again in a twinkling, before a gun could be raised at them.

"Why didn't you shoot?" cried Shep to Snap.

"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't have my gun ready," came from Whopper.

"Neither did I," added Giant.

The four young hunters gazed at each other sheepishly enough. Their long tramp had been all in vain.

"We're a lot of doughheads," grumbled Shep. "Come all the way for those deer and then-----Oh, say, let's go back home!"

"I wasn't thinking the deer would come this way," said Snap. "But this proves the truth of Jed Sanborn's words. He told me when I went hunting I must be ready for a shot all the time."

There was an awkward silence. The boys were bitterly chagrined.

"Can't we follow them up again?" asked Giant.

"Not to-night," answered Whopper. "They may go several miles before they stop. They got so close to us that they were thoroughly scared.

My, what an opportunity we lost for bagging at least four of them!"

"We better not tell anybody of this experience," said Whopper. "If we do, everybody will have the laugh on us."

It was growing dark already and they thought the best they could do would be to go down to the lake and row back to camp. During the day they had allowed some small game to pa.s.s unmolested, and this now added to their discomfiture.

"I am going to stir up something before I go back," declared Whopper.

"So am I," added Snap.

It took the best part of an hour to get back to the lake sh.o.r.e, and on the way they discovered several rabbits, some squirrels, and over a dozen birds of good size. The bringing down of this game served to raise their spirits a bit, but they still felt decidedly sore whenever they thought of the deer.

It was nightfall when they rowed across the lake and struck the sh.o.r.e in front of their camp. While Giant tied up the boat the others hurried to the cabin.

"Hullo! somebody has been here!" exclaimed Snap, glancing around hastily.

His words were true, as the others could readily see. All of their stores had been overhauled and some few of them taken away. On the floor lay the broken bowl of a clay pipe and near it some half-burnt tobacco.

"Hullo! Anybody around here?" called out Shep, and ran outside to gaze around. No answer came back, nor did anybody show himself.

"It was evidently a man, and he smoked a clay pipe," said Snap.

"Couldn't have been Jed Sanborn?" asked Whopper. "He smokes, sometimes."

"No; Jed wouldn't tumble the stores around in this fashion," answered Snap. "And, besides, if he came here he would most likely be back now to see us. No; this is the work of some stranger."

"Maybe somebody from the Felps camp," put in Giant, who had come up.

"That is possible," said Snap.

"Let us see just what is missing," said Shep.

They made a careful examination of all the things in the camp. One lad had lost some underwear, another a pair of socks and a handkerchief and another a blanket. Some provisions were gone, also a knife and fork, a cup, a frying-pan and half a dozen other things.

"Whoever was here evidently fitted himself to camp out," observed Shep. "I wish we could catch him! I'd give him a piece of my mind."

"So would I," added Whopper.

All were too tired, however, to hunt for the interloper and all they did that evening was to get supper and take it easy. When they turned in it was raining, but by midnight the stars came out one by one.

"After this I shall hate to leave the camp all alone for fear somebody will run off with our things," remarked Snap, while at breakfast.

"Just the way I feel about it," answered Shep. "Yet we can't watch the things all the time."

For several days they remained close to the camp and then received a second visit from Jed Sanborn.

He reported that everything was going on well at Fairview, and listened to what they had to tell with much interest.

"Yes, you must get those deer by all means," he said. "But about the feller that come here and took your things. He must have been a mean critter an' no mistake!"

Jed Sanborn was quite willing to go out with them after the deer, and the start was made on the following morning. They were soon across Firefly Lake, and then the old hunter showed the boys an easy trail over the hill and up the distant mountain.

"Gracious! This beats going through the bushes!" cried Giant.

"It's a pity we didn't know of this trail before," said Whopper. "It might have saved us from going about 'steen miles out of our way."

"Well, you'll know it after this," said Jed Sanborn, with a quiet smile. "Can't learn everything in a day, ye know. The woods is like book larnin'---ye have got to learn a page at a time."

They walked along until nearly noon and then came to something of a clearing. Here all took a sharp gaze around and at last saw two deer far over to the eastward.

"We can walk straight for 'em," said the old hunter. "The wind is blowing our way."

Once more they hurried on, this time with hopes beating high. Half the distance was covered when Jed Sanborn halted the boys.

"Look to your guns, lads. Is every gun ready for use?"

"Mine is!" came from one after another, as the examination was made.

"Good! Now remember, if we come up to the deer and you shoot, aim for the one that's in line with you---that is, the boy on the left takes the left deer, the boy on the right takes the deer on the right, a boy in the middle takes one in the middle, and so on.