The Outdoor Chums After Big Game | Page 2

keep four chums together a
while longer, in college, but my mother has set her heart on this thing.
Yes, I'm mighty well pleased."
Will's mother was a rich widow, and as he had only a twin sister, Violet,
for whom Frank entertained a pronounced liking, the two were more
than ordinarily dear to Mrs. Milton.
"Well, fellows, let's give one mighty cheer because of our good
fortune," said Jerry, his face beaming with delight; for the chums were
very fond of each other, and had a single one been left behind on the
following year, when the college term opened, there would have been
many a keen regret.
"Hip, hip, hurrah! Hurrah! hurrah! Tiger!"
No doubt, many persons ashore, who heard that lusty shout come
ringing over the clear water of the beautiful little lake on which the
town of Centerville was located, wondered what the burst of
enthusiasm meant.
But then they knew these four boys were built along the right lines, and
that while they loved the whole outdoors, with its attendant exciting
times, never had they been known to indulge in mean pranks.
After the cheer had died away there was a shaking of hands all around.

"Fellows, it begins to look as though our great trip to the Gulf of
Mexico last winter might not be our last grand outing, after all. You
know what our parents promised us if we went through all right?"
"Hear! hear! Frank has the floor!" cried Jerry.
"We were to have our choice of an extended tour through Yellowstone
Park to California, and return by way of the Canadian Rockies; or a
grand hunt in the wilderness, wherever we chose to take it. That was
the idea, wasn't it?" went on the happy occupant of the Jupiter.
"Talk to me about your personally conducted tours all you please,
nothing appeals to me like a real old hunt in the Great West," said Jerry
ecstatically. "Haven't I just longed for a chance to look at a big elk in
his native wilds, for years? And the thought of a grizzly bear sends a
thrill of pleasure through me."
"And as for me, haven't I lain awake nights without number thinking
about what bliss it would be to actually snap off a few pictures of those
same animals right where they live? How tame to go to a menagerie
and get a photo of a poor old bear behind the bars, when a fellow has a
chance to take him in the open!"
Of course it was Will who made this remark. He was the official
photographer of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club, as our four boy
friends called themselves, and his ambition to secure striking scenes,
with wild game in the center of the stage, had already led him into quite
a few scrapes, just as it would again when the opportunity presented
itself.
"But what I have told you isn't quite all," remarked Frank presently,
when the chatter of voices allowed him a chance to get in a few words
edgewise.
"What else have you got up your sleeve?" demanded Bluff.
"Yes, confess everything, and perhaps we'll forgive you," came from
Will.

"Well, I've had a letter." And Frank held something up.
"From that old side partner of Jesse Wilcox, the trapper whose camp
we used to visit during our fall hunt?" cried Jerry.
Frank nodded his head.
"And what does he say? Hurry up, and tell. Can't you see that Bluff,
here, will be overboard? He's leaning so far over the side that the water
is ready to pour in over the gunwale. Will Martin Mabie take us out?"
asked Jerry.
"He says he will be glad to do so, for old friendship's sake. I'm to wire
when to expect us, and leave the rest to him," Frank explained.
"I hope he has told you what we are to fetch along. We've done some
hunting, fellows, in our time, but that sort of thing, with big game in
prospect, calls for heavier gear. None of your repeating shotguns need
apply this trip, Bluff, you understand?"
Jerry could never become wholly reconciled to the modern gun Bluff
owned. He professed to be such a clean sportsman that he always
believed in giving the game a chance, and declared it to be next door to
murder to have six shots in hand when hunting birds. With big game, it
was all right, because then a fellow's life might often be in danger.
"Oh, Martin Mabie has written quite a long letter. He seems to be an
educated man, and not at all the brand we figured out from hearing
Jesse talk about him. Boys, we can now lay our plans, and make a start
inside of a week," declared Frank.
"Isn't