The Outdoor Chums | Page 2

Jerry, because you
happen to be a fine shot, and can bag your game the first clip; but
what's a fellow going to do when he finds it difficult to hit a barn? I'd
like to wager that with all your high-falutin' talk you do more execution
among the poor game than comes to my share," answered Bluff,
indignantly.
"Oh! well, have it your own way. I've tried my best to show you what a
genuine sportsman should be like, always giving the game a fair chance.
Didn't I induce you to quit fishing with that murderous gang-hook last
summer; and when you did finally get a bass didn't you feel prouder
than if you just '_yanked_' him in, perhaps caught on the outside of his
gills with some of that deadly jewelry?" demanded Jerry, whose one
hobby was the "square deal" in all that he undertook.
"I acknowledge the corn about the gang-hook; but that has nothing to
do with an up-to-date, repeating shotgun, and other things such as
modern campers use. I've kept posted, and I know what's going on.
Some people seem to be asleep, and are just contented to do as their
forefathers did. I'm progressive, that's what."
"Well, boys," Frank Langdon here broke in with, "suppose you
postpone that old chestnut of a dispute until we're snug in camp; and

let's talk about how the thing can be done. The first thing is to get
consent at home."
"I don't believe we need fear any trouble there. Frank, you call us up on
the 'phone in about an hour, and if everything's lovely and the goose
hangs high we'll meet at my house and make definite arrangements,"
said Will, whose mother was a well-to-do widow, and seldom refused
her idolized son any reasonable request.
"We could go on our motor-cycles, and have a wagon bring the duffle
along. If it started at a decent hour in the morning we'd be able to get in
camp by the middle of the afternoon, and have things fixed fairly well
for the first night," suggested Jerry, his eyes bright with anticipations of
a delightful time ahead.
"You've got all the things needed, Frank; and now we'll see what your
experience up in Maine amounted to. Say, ain't this just glorious?
Think of it, two weeks' outing at this beautiful time of the year, and up
there in the woods where we were just planning to go next summer. I
wonder if old Jesse Wilcox has begun to set his traps yet; that's his
stamping-ground, you know, during the winter, and he makes quite a
haul of muskrats, 'coons, some mink and even an otter once in a long
while," said Bluff, enthusiastically--he was always a leading spirit in
new ventures, but lacked the pertinacity of Frank.
"Don't you worry, old fellow, I'll be Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes
to delivering the goods. But all further talking had better be put off
until we find out whether we can go or not. So I move we adjourn, to
meet again an hour from now at Will's shack," remarked young
Langdon, always logical.
They had stopped to talk the matter over alongside one of the stores in
the town; and indeed Bluff was perched upon an empty box, that lay at
the foot of a small pyramid of similar cases, piled up until such time as
they could be sold or destroyed.
While the others were talking, Jerry had made a little discovery that
aroused both his curiosity and his temper: he had seen a touseled head,

surmounted by a cap he knew full well, push up a little above the rim of
the most elevated empty box, as if some concealed listener might be
endeavoring to hear better, and in his eagerness recklessly exposed
himself in this way.
Jerry was always prompt about doing things, nor did he, as a rule, stop
to figure what the immediate consequences might prove to be.
Indignation at the idea of their conference having been overheard
possessed his soul, and, seeing a splendid chance to bring the plans of
the listener to a sudden and disastrous end, he managed without
warning to give one of the boxes a flirt with his hand that moved it out
a foot or two.
As it happened to be the keystone of the arch, the consequence was the
entire pile came tumbling down, much after the fashion of a crumbling
church during an earthquake.
Bluff gave a wild shout, and sprang to a position of safety, to turn and
stare in astonishment at the remarkable result of the catastrophe.
From under the ruins a figure came crawling slowly, rubbing sundry
places about his legs and sides, where the sharp corners of the boxes
had been in cruel contact with his