Guns and Snowshoes | Page 2

home six months."
"Well, it seems that long anyway," said Frank Dawson, who was
usually called Whopper by his chums, because of his exaggerations
when speaking. "I've just been aching to see it snow."
"So that we can take that trip we proposed," put in Sheppard Reed,
quickly. "I guess we are all waiting for that."
"I am anyway," came from Will Caslette, the smallest lad of the four,
who had gathered at their usual meeting place in the town where they
resided. "Our camping out last summer was immense. If only we have
half as much fun this winter!"
"We will have, Giant," broke in the boy called Whopper. "Didn't I tell
you I was going to bring down sixteen deer, twenty bears, two hundred
wild turkeys, a boatload of wolves, and--"
"Phew, Whopper! Every time you name 'em over the list gets longer!"
cried Charley Dodge. "If you bring down so much game there won't be
anything left for other hunters."
"Well, I'll leave you a bear or two," said Whopper cheerfully.
"Thanks awfully."
"Leave me one lone wild turkey, Whopper dear," came mournfully
from Shep Reed.
"Say, if you're going to talk like that I won't leave anything," burst out
Frank.
"Whopper may bring down all the game, but I'll wager he can't throw a
snowball as straight as I can," said Charley, taking up some snow. "See
that spot on the fence yonder? Here goes for it!"

The snowball was launched forth with swiftness and with a thud struck
the spot directly in the center.
"Hurrah! A bull's-eye for Snap!"
"Humph! I can do that too!" cried Whopper, and forthwith proceeded to
make a good hard snowball. Then he took aim, let drive, and the ball
landed directly on the top of the one Charley had thrown.
"Good for you, Whopper!" said Charley enthusiastically.
"Ah, I could do that a thousand times in succession," answered the
youth given to exaggeration, coolly. "Why, don't you know that one
day there were six Tom cats on a fence and I took a snowball and hit
'em all?"
"What, with one snowball?" queried the little lad called Giant.
"Sure thing, Giant."
"But how?"
"Why, I made the snowball bounce from the head of one Tom cat to the
head of the next," answered Whopper, unabashed.
"Well, if that isn't the worst yet!" roared Shep. "Say, we ought to roll
Whopper in the snow for that!"
"Right you are!" cried Snap. "Come on!"
"Hi! hold on!" yelled Whopper in alarm, but before he could resist he
was landed on his back in the snow, and the others proceeded to roll
him over "good," as Shep expressed it. The rolling process at an end, a
general snowball fight ensued between all of the boys, and also several
others who chanced to be passing.
The scene was the town of Fairview, a place containing a main street
and also another thoroughfare running to the tidy little railroad depot,
where eight trains stopped daily. The town was made up of fifteen

stores and shops, three churches, a hotel, and a livery stable, while just
outside were a saw mill and several other industries. The place was
located on the Rocky River, which, ten miles below, flowed into a
beautiful sheet of water called Lake Cameron.
To those who have read a previous volume of mine entitled, "Four Boy
Hunters," the lads skylarking in the snow need no special introduction.
For the benefit of others let me state that Charley Dodge was the son of
one of the most influential men of that district, a gentleman who was a
school trustee and also part owner of a big summer hotel and one of the
saw mills. Sheppard Reed was the son of the best-known local
physician, and he and Charley,--always called Snap, why nobody could
tell--were such chums they were often spoken of as the Twins.
Frank Dawson had come to Fairview a little over two years before, and
had speedily made himself a prime favorite. As we have seen, he loved
to exaggerate when telling things, yet with it all Whopper, so called,
was as truthful as anybody. As Snap said, "you could always tell
Whopper's whoppers a mile off," which I think was something of a
whopper in itself, don't you?
The youngest lad of the four was Will Gaslette, always called Billy or
Giant. He was the son of a French widow lady, who thought the world
of her offspring. Although Will was small in size, he was sturdy and
self-reliant, and promised to become all that his mother hoped for him.
During the previous summer the four boys had organized the Fairview
Gun Club and obtained permission to go camping for a few weeks in
the vicinity of Lake Cameron. They had