Four Boy Hunters Part 23

"Then why did you come over?"

"We wanted to find out who was camping here, that's all."

"Humph! You are over there, ain't you?" went on Spink.

"Yes."

"Had any luck hunting?"

"A little."

"Just wait till we get down to business. We are going to bring down everything in sight," went on Ham Spink. He could hardly talk without "blowing his own horn," as some of the boys put it.

"Were you out for something this afternoon?" asked Whopper, curiously.

"What business is that of yours?" asked one of the other boys.

"None at all."

"Yes, we were out. We got two fine wild turkeys," answered Ham Spink.

"To-morrow we are going after some deer we saw early this morning."

"Maybe you won't get them, Ham," said Snap.

"Why not, I'd like to know?"

"We got three of them this afternoon."

"Three deer!" came from nearly all of the rival hunters.

"Yes."

"Oh, that's a fairy-tale," came from Ham Spink. "You can't make me believe it."

"It is true," said Whopper. "Jed Sanborn was along. He took two of the deer to town, and we have the other at our camp."

"Humph! Think you are some pumpkins, I suppose," sneered Ham Spink.

"Well, let me tell you one thing: Don't you dare to interfere with our hunting after this."

"We have as much right to hunt here as you have."

"We saw those deer first and it was our right to shoot them."

"Then why didn't you shoot?"

"Next time we will," said one of the other boys.

"How long are you going to stay here?"

"As long as we please."

A few more words pa.s.sed, and then Snap and Whopper turned their boat around and started back for their own camp.

Hardly had they done this when something whizzed through the air and landed in the bottom of the boat with a squas.h.i.+ng sound. It was a tomato that was overripe, and the center splashed over both boys.

"Who threw that?" cried Snap, in anger.

There was no answer.

"Whoever threw that is too cowardly to own to it!" went on the leader of the Fairview Gun Club.

"Do you mean to say we are a set of cowards?" bl.u.s.tered Ham Spink.

"Yes, you are, to do such a mean thing as that in the dark."

Just then another overripe tomato came whizzing over the rowboat.

Had not Whopper ducked his head he must have been struck.

"Wait, I'll give them a dose of shot!" cried Whopper, reaching down into the boat as if to take a gun. As a matter of fact, the boys had brought no weapons with them.

"Hi! hi! Don't you dare to shoot!" roared Ham Spink, in terror.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" came from some of the dude's friends.

"Are you going to throw any more things at us?" demanded Whopper.

"No, no!"

Some of the boys on sh.o.r.e were so scared that they ran for the nearest trees and got out of sight.

"We ought to give them a shot or two," said Snap, seeing the joke of the situation. "Maybe it will put some common sense into them."

"Don't!" came once more from three of the boys on sh.o.r.e, and they drew further out of sight than ever.

"You are a set of cowards," said Snap. "Now, don't you dare to make any more trouble for us. If you do, you'll surely get into hot water."

"We'll---er---let you alone if you'll let us alone," answered Ham Spink, in a voice that trembled.

"Very well, then, see that you remember that," said Snap.

A moment later he and Whopper rowed away and soon the darkness hid them from the view of the Spink party. Then the boys on sh.o.r.e drew a sigh of relief.

"What rowdies!" declared one boy, who was as dudish as Spink. "I really believe they would have shot us, don't you know!"

"Very, very rude," said the youth who had thrown one of the tomatoes.

"They ought to be locked up for threatening us," declared Ham Spink.

"It is an outrage that we cannot come here for an outing without being bothered by such low creatures."