Guns And Snowshoes

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GUNS AND SNOWSHOES

Or

The Winter Outing of the Young Hunters

by CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL

AUTHOR of "FOUR BOY HUNTERS," "FOR THE LIBERTY OF TEXAS," "THE WINNING
RUN," "FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

BOY HUNTERS SERIES

By Captain Ralph Bonehill

FOUR BOY HUNTERS
Or The Winter Outing of the Young Hunters.

GUNS AND SNOWSHOES
Or The Outing of the Gun Club

GUNS AND SNOWSHOES

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCING FOUR BOYS

II. A QUARREL IN THE SNOW

III. THE RESULTS OF SNOWBALLING

IV. THE EXPLOSION

V. OFF FOR CAMP

VI. CHICKENS AND MINCE PIE

VII. A DISMAYING DISCOVERY

VIII. THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP

IX. INTO A HOLE AND OUT

X. OUT AFTER DEER

XI. SNOWBOUND

XII. A CRY FOR HELP

XIII. IN CAMP ONCE MORE

XIV. IN WHICH A TRAMP DISAPPEARS

XV. SOMETHING OF A CHASE

XVI. AN EVIL COMPACT

XVII. FUN IN THE CAMP

XVIII. AN UNEXPECTED PERIL

XIX. THE FIGHT WITH THE BUCK

XX. SHOOTING WILD DUCKS

XXI. A TOUCH OF A BLIZZARD

XXII. A REMARKABLE CHRISTMAS

XXIII. IN TROUBLE ONCE MORE

XXIV. A DISAGREEABLE MEETING

XXV. AT THE CAMP ONCE AGAIN

XXVI. THE TRAIL THROUGH THE SNOW

XXVII. THE CAPTURE OF THE TRAMP

XVIII. FOUR BOYS AND A BEAR

XXIX. UNEXPECTED VISITORS

XXX. A SURPRISE--GOOD-BYE

PREFACE.

My DEAR LADS:

This story is complete in itself, but forms volume two of a set known
under the general title of the "Boy Hunters Series," taking the heroes
through various adventures while out hunting and fishing, in the woods
and mountains, and on rivers and lakes.

The boys are bright, lively lads of to-day, with a strong liking for a
life in the open air and a keen taste for hunting both big and little
game, and for fishing in various ways. In the former volume, entitled,
"Four Boy Hunters," they organized their little dun Club and obtained
permission to go a number of miles from home and establish a camp on
the edge of a lake. From this spot they were driven by enemies, and
then settled at another camp, where they had various adventures and
not a little fun, and in the end cleared up a mystery which had
bothered them not a little.

In the present story we have the same boys and almost the same
locality, but the time is now winter, and in the pages which follow
are related the sport the boys had in the snow and on the ice, and
something about a new mystery, which ended in rather a surprising
fashion.

As I have said before, hunting, especially in our eastern states, is
not what it was years ago. Almost all of the big game has disappeared,
and the fellow who can get a deer or a moose without going a good many
weary miles for the game is lucky. Yet in some sections small game is
still fairly plentiful, and a bag full of rabbits or wild ducks is
much better than nothing.

With best wishes to all who love the woods and waters, a gun, a dog,
and a rousing campfire, I remain,

Your sincere friend,

CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL.

GUNS AND SNOWSHOES.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCING FOUR BOYS

"Hurrah, boys, it's snowing at last! Aren't you glad?"

"Glad? You bet I'm glad, Snap! Why I've been watching for this storm
for about six months!"

"There you go, Whopper!" answered Charley Dodge, with a grin. "Six
months indeed! Why, we haven't been home six months."

"Well, it seems that long anyway," said Frank Dawson, who was usually
called Whopper by his chums, because of his exaggerations when
speaking. "I've just been aching to see it snow."

"So that we can take that trip we proposed," put in Sheppard Reed,
quickly. "I guess we are all waiting for that."

"I am anyway," came from Will Caslette, the smallest lad of the four,
who had gathered at their usual meeting place in the town where they
resided. "Our camping out last summer was immense. If only we have
half as much fun this winter!"

"We will have, Giant," broke in the boy called Whopper. "Didn't I tell
you I was going to bring down sixteen deer, twenty bears, two hundred
wild turkeys, a boatload of wolves, and--"

"Phew, Whopper! Every time you name 'em over the list gets longer!"
cried Charley Dodge. "If you bring down so much game there won't be
anything left for other hunters."

"Well, I'll leave you a bear or two," said Whopper cheerfully.

"Thanks awfully."

"Leave me one lone wild turkey, Whopper dear," came mournfully from
Shep Reed.

"Say, if you're going to talk like that I won't leave anything," burst
out Frank.

"Whopper may bring down all the game, but I'll wager he can't throw a
snowball as straight as I can," said Charley, taking up some snow.
"See that spot on the fence yonder? Here goes for it!"

The snowball was launched forth with swiftness and with a thud struck
the spot directly in the center.

"Hurrah! A bull's-eye for Snap!"

"Humph! I can do that too!" cried Whopper, and forthwith proceeded to
make a good hard snowball. Then he took aim, let drive, and the ball
landed directly on the top of the one Charley had thrown.

"Good for you, Whopper!" said Charley enthusiastically.

"Ah, I could do that a thousand times in succession," answered the
youth given to exaggeration, coolly. "Why, don't you know that one day
there were six Tom cats on a fence and I took a snowball and hit 'em
all?"

"What, with one snowball?" queried the little lad called Giant.

"Sure thing, Giant."

"But how?"

"Why, I made the snowball bounce from the head of one Tom cat to the
head of the next," answered Whopper, unabashed.

"Well, if that isn't the worst yet!" roared Shep. "Say, we ought to
roll Whopper in the snow for that!"

"Right you are!" cried Snap. "Come on!"

"Hi! hold on!" yelled Whopper in alarm, but before he could resist he
was landed on his back in the snow, and the others proceeded to roll
him over "good," as Shep expressed it. The rolling process at an end,
a general snowball fight ensued between all of the boys, and also
several others who chanced to be passing.

The scene was the town of Fairview, a place containing a main street
and also another thoroughfare running to the tidy little railroad
depot, where eight trains stopped daily. The town was made up of
fifteen stores and shops, three churches, a hotel, and a livery
stable, while just outside were a saw mill and several other
industries. The place was located on the Rocky River, which, ten miles
below, flowed into a beautiful sheet of water called Lake Cameron.

To those who have read a previous volume of mine entitled, "Four Boy
Hunters," the lads skylarking in the snow need no special
introduction. For the benefit of others let me state that Charley
Dodge was the son of one of the most influential men of that district,
a gentleman who was a school trustee and also part owner of a big
summer hotel and one of the saw mills. Sheppard Reed was the son of
the best-known local physician, and he and Charley,--always called
Snap, why nobody could tell--were such chums they were often spoken of
as the Twins.

Frank Dawson had come to Fairview a little over two years before, and
had speedily made himself a prime favorite. As we have seen, he loved
to exaggerate when telling things, yet with it all Whopper, so called,
was as truthful as anybody. As Snap said, "you could always tell
Whopper's whoppers a mile off," which I think was something of a
whopper in itself, don't you?

The youngest lad of the four was Will Gaslette, always called Billy or
Giant. He was the son of a French widow lady, who thought the world of
her offspring. Although Will was small in size, he was sturdy and
self-reliant, and promised to become all that his mother hoped for
him.

During the previous summer the four boys had organized the Fairview
Gun Club and obtained permission to go camping for a few weeks in the
vicinity of Lake Cameron. They had started in high spirits, and after
a number of minor adventures located on the shore of the lake. From
this spot, however, they were driven by a saw mill owner named Andrew
Felps, who ran a company that was a rival to the concern in which Mr.
Dodge had an interest. The boys were made to give up their comfortable
camp, and then they went to Firefly Lake, a mile away. Here they
hunted and fished to their heart's content, being joined in some of
their sports by Jed Sanborn, an old hunter and trapper who lived in
the mountains between the lakes. They had some trouble with Ham Spink,
a dudish youth from Fairview, who, with some cronies, located a rival
camp across the lake, but this was quickly quelled. Then, during a
forest fire, they captured a long-wanted criminal, and came home at
last loaded down with game, and with the firm determination to go out
camping again during the winter.

"We couldn't spend our time more pleasantly," was what Snap said.
"Just think of a cozy camp in the snow, with a roaring camp-fire, and
plenty of game on all sides of you! Um! um! It's enough to make a
fellow's mouth water!"

"Oh, we'll have to go!" had been Shep's answer. "Of course we'll have
to go to school, but we are going to have a long vacation around the
holidays--"

"And we can ask for our Christmas presents in advance," Giant had
interrupted. "If we go out, I know what I want?"

"What, Giant?"

"A pair of snowshoes."

"Oh, we'll all want those," had come from Whopper. "And sleds,
too--for our traps."

"That's right."

"And another shot-gun."

"Yes, and plenty of blankets. It's no fun to camp out in winter if you
can't keep warm."

And so the talk had run on, until the winter outing of the Gun Club
became almost a certainty to them. But there were certain
restrictions, one of which, placed on all of the boys by their
parents, was that they should end the term at school with good
averages in all their lessons.

"You must get at least eighty-five per cent. out of a possible hundred
in all your lessons," said Doctor Reed to Shep, "otherwise you cannot
go," and the other parents said practically the same thing to Snap,
Whopper and Giant. And then the boys pitched in with a will, resolved
to come out ahead, "or know the reason why," as Snap said.

CHAPTER II

A QUARREL IN THE SNOW

The snow lay on the ground to the depth of four inches and was still
coming down thickly. It was the first fall of the season, and was
late,--so late, in fact, that the boys had been afraid there might
come no fall at all. Fast and furiously flew the snowballs and each
lad was hit many times.

"How is that?" sang out Whopper, as he planted a snowball directly in
Snap's ear.

"And how's that?" returned Snap quickly, and sent a chunk of soft snow
down Frank's collar.

"Wuow!" spluttered Whopper. "Hi! that isn't fair! Oh, my poor
backbone!"

"Here you are, Giant!" called out Shep, and hit the little lad in the
back. "Sorry, but it can't be helped. I--Oh, my!" and Shep bent double
as a snowball thrown by Giant with much force took him directly in the
stomach.

"Just to remember me by!" sang out Giant. "Here's another," and the
ball struck Shep in the elbow. "Small favors thankfully received and
big ones granted in return. There you are!" And still another snowball
landed on Shep's neck.

Five other boys had come up, and now the contestants were lined up on
both sides of the street not far from a corner, where there was a turn
running down to the depot. As the snowballing went on a distant
locomotive whistle sounded out and the afternoon train from the East
rolled into the station. Several passengers alighted and among the
number was Andrew Felps, of the Felps Lumber Company, the man who had
caused the boy hunters so much trouble the summer previous.

Mr. Andrew Felps was in a bad humor. He had gone to the city on
business and matters had not turned out as he had expected. Now he had
gotten back, dressed in his best, and wearing a new silk hat, and he
had no umbrella with which to protect himself from the snow-storm.
More than this, his coachman, who generally met him when he came in on
the train, was not in sight.

"Bah! I'll have to walk I suppose," muttered the saw mill owner, as he
looked around for a carriage and found none. "Just the time you want a
rig you can't find one. I'll discharge Johnson as soon as I reach
home."

With his coat buttoned up around his neck, and his head bent low to
escape the scudding snow, Andrew Felps hurried away from the depot and
up to the main street of Fairview. Then he made another turn,
presently reaching the spot where our heroes and the other lads were
having their sport.

"Hi! here comes old Felps!" cried Giant. "We ought to give him
something to remember us by!"

"Don't you do it!" returned Snap quickly. "He doesn't know what fun
is, and he'd be sure to make trouble."

Some other boys were coming up, and the snowballs began to fly more
furiously than ever. Snap, Shep, Whopper and Giant were on one side,
and a boy named Carl Dudder and five other town lads on the other
side. In the midst of the rallies came a yell of alarm, followed by
several loud cries of rage.

"Hullo! look there!" exclaimed Whopper. "Old Felps has been knocked
into the middle of next month. There goes his hat in the snow too! Who
threw at him?"

"I didn't," answered Giant, promptly.

"Neither did I," came from Snap.

"Nor I," added Shep.

The saw mill owner was flat on his back, his silk hat on one side of
him and a package of books and papers on the other.

"Maybe he slipped on some ice," suggested Snap.

"Hi! hi! who threw that snowball!" roared Andrew Felps, savagely, as
he arose to his feet. "You young villains! I'll have the law on you
for this!"

He scrambled to his feet and glared around him. All of the boys had
stopped throwing at once and gazed at him curiously.

"Ha! I know you!" went on Andrew Felps, striding up to Snap. "It was
you who hit me in the ear and knocked me down!"

"No, sir, I did not," answered Charley.

"I know better! I saw you do it!"

"You are mistaken, Mr. Felps! I was throwing across the street."

"Don't tell me! I know better, Dodge. You hit me and you did it on
purpose."

At this Snap merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll have the law on you," fumed Andrew Felps.

"Snap didn't hit you," said Shep.

"Ha! then perhaps you threw the snowball," said the saw mill owner
suspiciously.

"I did not."

"I know you boys, and I have not forgotten your work against me last
summer," growled Andrew Felps.

"And we haven't forgotten you," answered Snap, coldly. "You have no
right to accuse me of something I didn't do."

"Bah! If I find out who hit me I'll make it warm for him!" And having
thus delivered himself Andrew Felps picked up his silk hat and his
bundle and went on his way, in a worse humor than ever.

"Isn't he a darling?" observed Whopper sarcastically. "How I would
love to own him for a brother!"

"I wonder who did hit him?" mused Snap. "The snowball couldn't have
come from over here."

"I know who hit him," said a little boy named Benny Grime.

"Who was it, Benny?"

"Ham Spink."

"Ham Spink!" cried Snap and Shep in concert.

"Yes."

"Why, he isn't here," said Whopper.

"He just came up, threw one snowball, and ran away. I guess he meant
to hit somebody else and the snowball hit Mr. Felps instead," went on
the small boy. "Don't let him know I told you, or he'll wax me good
for it."

"I shan't tell Ham," said Snap. "But this is strange," he continued.

"Thought Ham was too much of a dude to throw snowballs," was Whopper's
comment. "Why, he wears a new necktie every day now, and new patent
leather shoes, and new gloves, and--"

"Don't pile it on too thick, Whopper," laughed Shep. "But I admit, he
is a dude and no mistake."

"And a sneak--to run away as soon as he hit old Felps," finished
Giant.

There was no time to say more, for the snowball battle was again
raging, more furiously than ever. The balls flew on all sides, and
grown folks, coming in that direction, kept out of the way as much as
possible.

"Here comes old Mammy Shrader!" cried Snap, presently. "We must be
careful not to hit her."

The woman he referred to was old and feeble and very short sighted.
She had a faded shawl over her shoulders and carried a market basket
on one arm. She went out nursing among the poor people and was well
known throughout the entire neighborhood.

As the old woman came on a snowball was thrown at her from the other
side of the street.

"Say, don't do that!" called out Snap, angrily. "Leave Mammy Shrader
alone!"

He has scarcely uttered the words when another snowball was thrown at
the aged female. This hit her on the cheek and caused her to utter a
cry of pain. She tried to save herself from falling, but could not,
and went down in a heap.

"For shame!" ejaculated Shep and ran to help the old woman to arise.
In the meantime Snap, with flashing eyes, hurried across the street
and confronted Carl Dudder. As my old readers know, Carl Dudder was a
close crony to Ham Spink and had done his full share in making our
young friends uncomfortable during the summer outing.

"Dudder, aren't you ashamed of yourself?" said Snap.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Carl Dudder, although he
trembled a little as he spoke.

"You threw those snowballs at Mammy Shrader."

"I didn't."

"You did--I saw you."

"That's correct--I saw him too," put in Giant, who had followed Snap.
In the meantime Whopper had followed Shep, and both were doing what
they could for the old woman.

"See here, Snap Dodge, I don't want you to talk to me," blustered Carl
Dudder. "I know my own business."

"You ought to be knocked down for throwing at Mammy Shrader."

"You can't knock me down!" growled Carl, doubling up his fists.

"A fight! a fight!" cried several boys, always ready for an affair of
that sort.

There was an awkward pause. Snap did not wish to fight, and yet he
wanted Dudder to understand that he was not afraid.

"I think I owe you something from last summer," said Dudder, coming
closer and sticking his chin in Snap's face. "I haven't forgotten
that."

"Yes, but you seem to have forgotten that we about kept you from
starving to death," answered Snap calmly.

"And that's no joke," came softly from Giant.

"You keep your oar out, little one," grunted Dudder, turning to glare
at Will.

"You and your crowd acted very meanly last summer and you know it,
Dudder," said Giant, not in the least abashed. "Your treatment of
Mammy Shrader is on a par with your other actions."

"Shut up!" roared the other boy, and made a quick pass at Giant's
head. But the small boy dodged and the fist struck Snap on the
shoulder.

The next instant Snap hauled off, struck out, and Carl Dudder measured
his length in the snow.

CHAPTER III

THE RESULTS OF SNOWBALLING

Carl Rudder had not expected this telling blow and he was so dazed it
was several seconds before he turned over in the snow and arose to his
feet.

"Good for you, Snap!" cried Will. "That's the way to serve him."

"Wha--what do you mean by hitting me like that?" demanded Dudder,
glaring at Charley, but still keeping a safe distance.

"What do you mean by hitting me?" demanded Snap.

"I'll punch your head good for you!

"Try it--if you dare," answered Snap, defiantly, and he took an
aggressive step forward, at which Dudder retreated.

"I'll fight you another time--when you haven't so many friends
around," said Carl Dudder lamely, and then turning on his heel he
started away, followed by one of his cronies.

"If old Mammy Shrader is hurt, you'll be to blame," called Snap after
him.

"He's a coward," was Giant's comment. "I wish I had got a whack at
him. He is much larger than I am, but I am not afraid of him."

While this scene was transpiring Shep and Whopper had helped old Mammy
Shrader to a seat on the porch of a house not far from where she had
gone down. The old woman complained of a pain in her side and it was
next to impossible for her to take another step.

"I'll have to go home," she panted. "But how am I to get there?"

"Here comes Mr. Sell in his grocery wagon," cried Whopper. "Perhaps
he'll give you a ride."

"Maybe he will--I buy my things from him," answered the old woman.

The grocer was stopped and the situation explained, and he readily
volunteered to take Mammy Shrader to her home, located at no great
distance. He and the boys helped her into the wagon.

"The boy who struck her ought to be horsewhipped," said the grocer.
"Fun is one thing, but hitting an old woman is quite another."

"Just what I say," answered Shep.

"Well, I knocked him down anyway," said Snap, coming up, and Giant
told the details of the brief encounter.

Snap volunteered to go with the grocer, and between them they soon had
Mammy Shrader at her home and lying on a couch. Shep hurried home and
told his father the particulars of what had occurred.

"I will drive over and see her," said the doctor, and as his horse was
hitched up he went immediately.

"She is suffering from a sprain and from the jar," said the physician,
after an examination. "She must take it easy for a week or so." Then a
neighbor, who had dropped in, said she would look after the patient
during that time.

"Carl Dudder ought to be made to pay for this," said Doctor Reed.

"The Dudders won't pay anything--Mr. Dudder is as miserly as they make
him, even if he is well off," said Whopper.

"Perhaps he can be forced to pay," replied Snap.

When Carl Dudder heard that a doctor had been called in to attend
Mammy Shrader he was much frightened. He went to consult Ham Spink
about it. The two were hand-in-glove in everything.

"Are they sure you threw the snowball?" asked Ham Spink, pointedly.

"They say they saw me."

"Who says so?"

"Oh, Snap Dodge and that crowd."

"Always that crowd!" muttered Ham Spink.

"They say they know you knocked Andrew Felps down," went on Dudder,
finding some consolation in the fact that Ham was in difficulties too.

"They didn't see a thing!" roared the dudish youth.

"Well, that is what they say."

"Humph! Carl, they are bound to get us into trouble."

"Of course. They haven't got over last summer's trouble yet. I suppose
they will make it as hot for us as they can."

"Well, let us stick together and maybe we can face them down," was Ham
Spink's comment, and then he lit a cigarette and offered one to his
crony, and both fell to smoking.

That very evening both youths had to "face the music," and in a manner
which did not please them in the least.

Coming home just before supper Mr. Spink, found a note awaiting him.
It was from Andrew Felps and ran, in part, as follows:

"I have a complaint to make against your son Hamilton. To-day while I
was on my way through the streets of our town I was assailed in the
fashion of a ruffian by your son, who threw snowballs at me, knocking
me down and ruining my silk hat and a rare volume of history I was
carrying. I demand that your son apologize to me for his actions or I
shall make a complaint to the authorities."

"Hamilton, what does this mean?" demanded Mr. Spink, after perusing
the communication several times.

"I don't know," answered the undutiful offspring brazenly.

"Did you snowball Mr. Felps?"

"No. I didn't snowball anybody."

"He says you did."

"He must be mistaken."

"It is mighty queer," muttered Mr. Spink. "I will look into this
to-morrow."

"The old Harry take Felps anyway," muttered Ham to himself. "How did
he learn I threw that snowball? That Dodge crowd must have told him."

It was Mammy Shrader's neighbor, Samuel O'Brien, who called upon Mr.
Dudder.

"Sure, Mr. Dodder, yer son ought to be locked up, so he ought," said
the Irishman. "It's him as is wantin' to kill old Mammy Shrader."

"Why, what do you mean, sir?" demanded Mr. Dudder, in amazement.

"Sure an' wasn't it Carl as knocked the old lady down to-day and laid
her on a sick bed, wid a doctor, an' me wife to nurse her till she
gits betther? Sure it's a bastly shame, so it is, an' Carl will go
to the lock-up onless ye pay all the bills."

"I do not understand you."

"Thin I'll be after explainin'," answered Samuel O'Brien, and gave his
story in full, to which Mr. Dudder listened in a nervous fashion. Then
Carl was called into the room.

"What do you mean by making trouble in this fashion?" demanded Mr.
Dudder wrathfully.

"I didn't make trouble," said Carl, sullenly.

"Sure an' he did that," said the Irishman.

"Mr. O'Brien says you knocked Mrs. Shrader down."

"I didn't."

"He was seen--several b'ys saw him," put in Samuel O'Brien.

"I--er--it was an accident," stammered Carl, quailing before the stern
gaze of his parent. "The--er--the snowball slipped. It didn't hit
Mammy Shrader hard, and she fell down of her own account, not because
of the snowball."

"She says th' snowball knocked her down," said Samuel O'Brien. "If ye
was my b'y I'd be afther givin' ye a good walloppin', so I would!" he
added pointedly.

"I will go and see Mrs. Shrader," said Mr. Dudder. "Carl, you remain
at home until I get back."

"Can't I go over and see Ham?"

"No."

"I promised him that I would be over."

"Well, you can't go. You study your lessons, unless you prefer to go
with me to Mrs. Shrader's."

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