The Rover Boys on a Hunt | Page 9

their sector, and none of them
had been wounded and all were in the best of health.
"That's the best news yet," said Fred, with satisfaction, and the others

agreed with him.
Gif Garrison had also received a letter, and this he read with
tremendous satisfaction. His face was aglow as he called the Rover
boys to him.
"I've got an important announcement to make to you fellows," he said.
"Let us go up to your rooms and talk it over."
"What is the announcement?" questioned Andy eagerly.
"I'll tell you when we are alone," answered Gif.
CHAPTER IV
SOMETHING ABOUT CEDAR LODGE
"Oh, go ahead, Gif, and get it off your chest!"
"Don't keep us waiting."
"Has some one died and left you a fortune?"
Such were some of the remarks made after Gif Garrison had said that
he had an important announcement to make to the four Rover boys.
"Not another word until we get to your rooms," said Gif. "And, Andy,
won't you please run off and get Spouter Powell? I just saw him
heading for the gymnasium."
"All right, Gif. But don't you dare to let the others in on the secret until
I get back," returned the fun-loving Rover boy, and away he sped on
his errand.
A few minutes later all of the lads mentioned were assembled in the
Rover boys' sitting room, some on chairs, one on a table, and two on a
couch. Andy playfully started to throw a pillow at Fred, but Gif at once
put up his hand in protest.

"Any horseplay, and I'll call it all off," he warned.
"I'll be good, Gif!" cried Andy reluctantly, and got rid of the pillow by
using it for a back rest.
"This letter is from my Uncle Louis, who is a partner with my father in
the ownership of a large tract of land not far from the seacoast," began
Gif. "There is a small but comfortable bungalow on it, known as Cedar
Lodge. Nobody was going to use the Lodge this winter, and I suggested
to my folks and Uncle Louis that they allow us fellows to occupy it
during the holidays."
"And what did they say?" questioned Randy eagerly.
"They said I could go there if I wanted to, and I could take you Rover
boys and Spouter with me, provided you could get consent to go."
"Isn't that dandy!"
"Of course we'll go, Gif. Horses couldn't hold us back!"
"How is the hunting there? Can we get a deer or a moose?"
"How do you get there?"
These were a few questions hurled at Gif after he had made his
important announcement. He placed his hands over his ears in despair.
"One question at a time, please!" he begged. "What do you think I am,
anyhow--an encyclopædia? To get there you go from here to Portview,
and then along the coast to a place called Timminsport. From
Timminsport you have either to take a sleigh or else hike to the camp,
which is about five or six miles away. There is an old fellow, named
Jed Wallop, who lives near the property in a little shack some distance
from the bungalow. If we want him to, he will get a sled and drive us to
the place, and he will also assist us in getting settled, and in getting
what stores we may need--that is, provided you fellows can really go."
"You can count of me," declared Spouter promptly. "My folks said I

could do as I pleased during the holidays, provided I kept out of
mischief. And what mischief could a fellow get into in the midst of
those grand primeval forests where perhaps the woodsman has never
dared to lay his axe to the heart of the sturdy oak, and where the timid
deer, in fancied freedom, ambles through the darkening glades, and--"
"Turn off the spigot, Spouter, or you'll have us flooded!" burst out
Randy.
"Save your orations for the day before election," came from Fred.
"You can give us the rest of it, Spouter, when we are in camp some
night and have nothing to read and don't know what to do," suggested
Jack.
"That's it--always cutting my rhetorical effusions short," remarked
Spouter reproachfully. "Some day, when you are aching to have me
make a speech, you'll find me dumb."
"Tell us more about this camp, Gif," cried Fred.
Thereupon Gif Garrison related all he knew concerning the camp,
which was located on a small stream of water that in the summer time
ran down to a bay emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. There was a good
deal of timber on the tract, and, so far as Gif knew, there was quite
some small game.
"I don't know about deer," he continued. "More than likely the big