Young Hunters of the Lake

Young Hunters of the Lake

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Young Hunters of the Lake, by Ralph
Bonehill This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: Young Hunters of the Lake
Author: Ralph Bonehill
Release Date: July 19, 2004 [EBook #12936]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG
HUNTERS OF THE LAKE ***

YOUNG HUNTERS OF THE LAKE or Out with Rod and Gun
By Captain Ralph Bonehill

CONTENTS

CHAPTERS
I. Four Lively Boys II. Swimming, and What Followed III. A Trick
That Failed IV. The Story of a Ghost V. A Fourth of July Celebration
VI. Preparing for the Grand Outing VII. At the Boathouse VIII. How
Two Prowlers Were Treated IX. The First Day of the Outing X. The
Story of a Strange Disappearance XI. A Search for a Rowboat XII. The

Camp on Lake Cameron XIII. In the Camp of the Enemy XIV. Delayed
by a Storm XV. Lost in the Swamp XVI. The Rescue of Giant XVII.
On Lake Narsac at Last XVIII. The Old Hermit's Tale XIX. A
Dangerous Deer Hunt XX. The Mysterious Voice XXI. In Which the
Enemy Appears Again XXII. A Lively Time in the Dark XXIII. The
Loss of the Raft XXIV. Out on a Sand Bar XXV. Jed Sanborn Brings
News XXVI. A Hunt After Wildcats XXVII. Into a Bears' Den XVIII.
The Caves in the Mountain XXIX. Visited by the Ghost XXX. The
Secret of the Mysterious Voice XXXI. The Last of the
Ghost---Conclusion

PREFACE
My Dear Lads:
This story is complete in itself but forms volume three of a line known
under the general title of "Boy Hunters Series," and taking in
adventures in the field, the forest, and on the river and lake, both in
winter and summer.
The boys of these stories are bright, wide-awake lads of to-day, with a
taste for rod and shotgun, and a life in the open air. They know a good
deal about fishing and how to shoot, and camp life is no new thing to
them. In the first volume, entitled, "Four Boy Hunters," they organize a
little club of four members and go forth for a summer vacation. They
have such good times that, when Winter comes on, they resolve to go
camping again, and do so, as related in the second volume, called
"Guns and Snowshoes." In that story they fall victims to a blizzard, and
spend a most remarkable Christmas; but, of course, all ends happily.
In the present story, summer is once more at hand, and again the boy
hunters venture forth, this time bound for a large lake a good many
miles from their home town. They have a jolly cruise on the water, fall
in with a very peculiar old hermit, and are molested not a little by some
rivals. They likewise follow up two bears, and are treated to a ghost
scare calculated to make anybody's hair stand on end. What the ghost
proved to be I leave the pages which follow to reveal.
As I have said before, good hunting, especially in our eastern states, is
fast becoming a thing of the past. In some sections only small game can
be had and even then the eager hunter has to travel many miles
sometimes for a shot.

Trusting that all boys who love the woods and waters, a rod, a gun and
a restful camp will enjoy reading this volume, I remain,
Your sincere friend, Captain Ralph Bonehill.

CHAPTER I
FOUR LIVELY BOYS
"Boys, I'm going swimming. Who is going along?"
"Count me in, Snap," answered Shep Reed.
"Swimming?" came from a third youth of the crowd of four. "Why, you
couldn't keep me away if you tried. I've been waiting for a swim for
about eleven years-----"
"And a day," broke in a small, stout youth. "Don't forget the day,
Whopper, if you want to be really truthful.
"All right, put in the day," cheerfully assented the lad called Whopper,
because of his propensity to exaggerate when speaking. "Of course
you'll go, too, Giant?" he added, questioningly.
"Will I?" answered the small youth. "Will a duck swim and a cow eat
clover? To be sure I'll go. But I'll have to run home first and tell
mother."
"I'll have to go home, too," said the lad called Snap. "But I can be back
here in a quarter of an hour."
"Where shall we go?" asked Shep Reed.
"I was thinking of going up to Lane's Cove," answered Snap Dodge.
"Lane's Cove!" cried the