Guns and Snowshoes; Or, the Winter Outing of the Young Hunters Part 10

Inside of five minutes Shep was asleep and Snap and the small member of the Gun Club quickly followed.

Whopper filled the pot half full of bean, soaked them a little in ice water, and then hung them over the fire to bake, putting some bacon with them, to give the proper flavor. Then he brought in some extra sticks and sat down. He was indeed sleepy and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.

"Guess I had better walk around," he told himself, and not to disturb the sleepers, pa.s.sed through one of the openings between the trees to the outside of the shelter.

It was a moonlight night, and he could see across the lake with ease.

All was quiet saving for the distant hoot of an owl and the occasional bark of a fox. The wind had gone down and not a tree branch was stirring.

"What a glorious night for skating," mused the boy. "There must be a good many out at Fairview, now that the ice is so solid."

He walked around the shelter four times and then came to a halt once more in front of the lake.

As he did this, he saw some object move across the ice of the lake.

One object was followed by another, and then a third and a fourth.

"Animals of some kind," he thought. "But what?"

He watched the objects for several minutes.

They kept coming closer slowly, stopping every now and then, as if to deliberate. Then of a sudden, a lonely, mournful howl rent the air.

"Wolves!" he muttered. "They have discovered our camp and are coming towards it. I wonder what I had better do?"

CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP

Whopper was not much frightened. He had met wolves before and he did not think that the pack on the ice would dare to attack him and his friends. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he watched the beasts closely, and when they came still nearer he rushed into the shelter and grabbed up his shotgun.

"What's the row?" asked Shep sleepily, disturbed by the unusual bustle.

"Four wolves are on the ice in front of the shelter," explained Whopper. "Reckon I'll give them a shot."

"I'll go along," and the doctor's son sprang up and reached for his own firearm.

When Whopper got outside again, followed by Shep, he saw the wolves had approached still closer. There were now seven of them, and they stood in a semi-circle, sniffing the air suspiciously. The man-smell was strong, and this they did not like, for to them it betokened only danger. Yet mingled with the man-smell was the smell of chicken and rabbit meat, and this pleased them, for they were hungry.

"Let us both fire together," suggested Shep. "Each of us ought to bring down at least one. You can fire to the right and I'll fire to the left of the line."

"All right."

They took careful aim, and at the word from Whopper each pulled the trigger of his shotgun.

Bang! Bang!

The two guns spoke up in rapid succession, and as the smoke cleared away it was seen that two of the wolves lay on the ice, twisting and turning in their death agonies. The others were scuttling away, one limping painfully.

"Hullo, what's up?" came from Snap, as he rushed from the shelter, followed by Giant. "What are you firing at?"

"We just brought down a couple of wolves," answered Whopper, with considerable satisfaction in his tone.

"Wolves!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Giant. "I didn't think they'd find us as early as this."

Taking a brand from the fire, Whopper led the party out on the ice to where the two wolves lay. One was already dead and the other quickly breathed its last. They were large and gaunt looking creatures, with cruel teeth, and Shep s.h.i.+vered as he looked them over.

"I am glad they didn't get into the shelter," he observed. "If they had, we should have had the fight of our lives."

"I doubt if they would have attacked us," answered Snap. "They were after those rabbits and that chicken. They must have followed the sled trail from Lake Cameron."

As the young hunters did not want the wolves, they were left where they had fallen. The other beasts did not show themselves again.

The remainder of the night pa.s.sed without anything unusual happening.

Once the wind veered around a little, threatening to suffocate them with smoke from the camp-fire, but by the time they prepared to vacate the shelter the wind veered back to where it had first come from and gave them no more trouble.

"I saw a beautiful owl," said Giant, when they were preparing breakfast. "I'd like to get him and have him stuffed."

"To eat, I presume," said Whopper, innocently.

"Eat? What do you take me for!" cried the smaller member of the Gun Club, and picking up a chunk of snow he s.h.i.+ed it at Whopper, taking the latter in the ear.

Whopper could not stand that and threw some snow in return. Then ensued a regular s...o...b..ll fight all around, which came to a sudden termination when Shep hit the coffee pot and spilled half of the hot beverage in the snow.

"Hi! that's going too far!" cried Snap. "Don't waste good coffee like that!"

"I move we fine Shep one cent for a bad throw," murmured Giant.

"He can make another pot of coffee, that's what he can do," grumbled Whopper.

"All right, I will, but no more s...o...b..lling for the present," answered Shep, and set to work without delay.

For breakfast they had some chicken, some bread and b.u.t.ter and hot coffee. The bread was pretty dry, but n.o.body minded it, for hunger and a clear, cold atmosphere are wonderful appet.i.te builders.

"The first thing to do to-day is to finish building our shelter," said Snap.

"Oh, gos.h.!.+ can't we go hunting?" demanded Whopper, who was itching to get out after big game.

"He wants to bring in a few of those bears he has been talking about,"

said Giant, with a wink of his eye.

"No hunting until the shelter is good enough to use in all kinds of weather," answered Snap.

The bracing air kept the boys moving lively, and directly after breakfast they set to work in earnest. A large quant.i.ty of tree branches were cut down, and with these they made the sides and top of the hut or cabin as tight as possible. Around the bottom of the shelter they heaped up all the snow that was close at hand.

The building of the chimney bothered them a great deal. Fortunately they found some stones which were fairly flat, and these they managed to pile up into something of a square, with an opening in the center and another at the bottom, next to the shelter. On the outside they heaped up some dirt and above this plastered the cracks with mud. When tried, the chimney drew very well, and there seemed to be little danger of it setting fire to the shelter proper.