Out with Gun and Camera | Page 5

he is willing for you to go?"
"No, he told me to ask you if you wanted to go out---for him."
"Mystery on mystery," came from Giant. "For him? I don't understand."
"Neither do I," came simultaneously from Snap and Whopper.
"Will, it's this way, to tell you the whole story. Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course!"
"Well, then, my father has become interested in a big land company that has procured a large reservation of land in and along the Windy Mountains. The company isn't going to do much with the reservation this year, but next year it is going to build camps up by the lake, and advertise it as a sort of private hunting and fishing resort. They hope to get the better class of sportsmen up here from the cities and make considerable money."
"Yes; but how does that affect us?" asked Giant impatiently.
"Wait and you'll see. My father says the success of the scheme will depend very largely on how it is presented to the public, and he and two of the other men have decided to do some high-class advertising of the project---little booklets and folders, and all that. These booklets and folders are to be filled with photo-engravings, showing the pretty spots in the mountains, and also pictures of the animals and fish a sportsman can get."
"And does your father want us to get the photographs?" asked Snap.
"That's it---if we care to do it. He can't go out, and neither can those other men, and they don't know who to get. Of course, they could hire a professional photographer, but he would only take scenery, most likely, while what my father wants particularly is pictures of good hunting and fishing, and pictures of real camp life. He thinks we are just the boys to get the right kind of pictures-----"
"So we are, if we had the right kind of cameras," broke in Whopper.
"Yes; give me a high-class camera and plenty of films or plates, and I'll take all the photos he wants," added Snap.
"I haven't got to the end of my story yet," resumed the doctor's son. "Father knows that the pictures---I mean the right kind---will be worth money, and so he said, if we'd go out, and do the very best we could about getting the photos, he would furnish the cameras and plates, and would pay all the expenses of the trip."
"Whoop! hurrah! that suits me down to the ground!" cried Whopper. "Let's start to-morrow---no, this afternoon!"
"Offer accepted with pleasure," came from Giant.
"Do you really think we can get the photographs your father wants, Shep?" asked Snap. "It wouldn't be fair to take the offer up and then disappoint him."
"He thinks we can do it. He says he will get us the proper outfit, and before we start he'll have a professional photographer, who has made a study of landscapes, give us pointers on how to get the best results. He knows we can take pretty good pictures already."
"In that case, I say, let us accept the offer, by all means," answered Snap.
"How soon can we start?" demanded Whopper.
"I asked my father that, and he said most likely by next Monday. He will want to give us all some instructions before we leave. And he wants us to read this book," and Shep drew a small volume from his pocket.
"What is it?"
"A book on how to take the best photographs of wild animals."
"Humph! It's easy to get a picture---if you can find the animal," was Whopper's comment.
"This tells how to get a picture if you can't find the animal."
"What!"
"Exactly. Here are diagrams showing how to rig up a camera and a flashlight, so that if the animal comes along in the dark and shoves a certain string the light goes off and so does the camera, and the picture is taken. If you want to, you can bait the string."
"Say, that's great!" cried Giant.
"I'd like to lay the game low---after I had the picture," was Snap's comment.
"We can do that, too---sometimes."
After that the doctor's son gave his chums more details of what his parent had said. All the boys were sure they could go out again, for their return home from their previous trip had not been expected by their parents.
"Were you thinking we might meet Ham Spink and his crowd?" asked Giant during a short lull in the talk.
"Yes," answered Shep. "And if we do, they'll sure try to make trouble for us."
"I am not afraid of them," said Snap. "If they don't keep their distance we'll-----"
"Give 'em as good as they send," finished Whopper. "But great Caesar's tombstone! just think of going camping again!" And in his joy the youth turned a handspring on the grass. As he arose Giant threw an apple core that took him in the ear. Then Whopper threw a core