Out with Gun and Camera Part 1

Out with Gun and Camera.

by Ralph Bonehill.

PREFACE

My Dear Lads:

This story is complete in itself, but forms volume four in a line known by the general t.i.tle of "Boy Hunters Series," taking in adventures with rod, rifle, shotgun and camera, in the field, the forest, and on river and lake, both in winter and summer.

My main object in writing this series of books is to acquaint lads with life in the open air, and cause them to become interested in nature. In the first volume, called "Four Boy Hunters," I told how the youths organized their little club and went forth for a summer vacation; in the second book, "Guns and Snowshoes,"

I gave the particulars of a midwinter outing, with its heavy falls of snow, its blizzard, and its most remarkable Christmas in the wilds.

With the coming of another summer the boys determined to go forth once more, and what they did then has been told in the third book, ent.i.tled "Young Hunters of the Lake." They had a glorious time, in spite of some enemies who tried to do them harm, and they settled the matter of certain "ghost" to their entire satisfaction.

The settling of the ghost question took them home before the summer vacation was half over, and then the boys began to wonder what they had best do next. But that question was soon answered by an announcement made by the father of one of the lads; and once again they went forth, this time, however, to the distant mountains.

Here they hunted and fished to their hearts' content, and likewise took a large number of photographs, some of the pictures causing them a good deal of trouble and peril to obtain.

Trusting that all boys who love to hunt and to fish and to take pictures with a camera will find this volume to their liking, I remain, Your sincere friend, Captain Ralph Bonehill.

CHAPTER I

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

"Come on, Shep."

"Where are you going, Whopper?"

"For a row on the river. I've been aching for a row for about a year."

"That suits me," answered Sheppard Reed, as he hopped down from the fence upon which he had been sitting. "What about the others?"

"Snap said he would meet me at the dock," continued Frank Dawson, otherwise known as Whopper. "I don't know where Giant is."

"I saw him about an hour ago. He was on an errand for his mother---said he was going to Perry's store."

"Then we can look in Perry's. If he isn't there I'll run over to his house for him. It's a grand day for a row."

"Yes, we must get him if we can," went on Sheppard Reed thoughtfully.

"I've got something to tell the crowd."

"To tell the crowd?" repeated Frank Dawson curiously. "What?"

"I'll tell you when we are all together, Whopper."

"Something about Ham Spink? I met him last night and we almost had a fight. Oh, that dude makes me sick!"

"No, this isn't about Ham, or any of that crowd. It concerns----- But I'll tell you later," and Sheppard Reed put on an air of great secrecy.

"All right. If you don't want to tell I suppose I'll have to wait,"

said Whopper disappointedly. "But you might tell me what's on your mind."

"I want to tell the whole crowd at once," answered his chum. "Then n.o.body can say somebody else was told first."

"I see. Well, you go down to the dock and meet Snap, and I'll hustle around and stir up Giant," went on Frank Dawson.

"I was going to have you all over to my house to-night, to tell you,"

explained Sheppard. "But I might as well speak of it when we are together on the river."

"Say, you must have something wonderful on your mind!" cried Whopper.

"I'm dying by inches to know what it is. I'll find Giant somehow, and have him at the dock inside of a quarter of an hour sure." And away he ran on his errand, while the youth who had the important announcement to make turned in the direction of the water-front.

To those who have read the former volumes in this "_Boy Hunters Series_" the lads who have been speaking will need no further introduction. For the benefit of others let me state that Sheppard Reed was the son of a doctor who had a large practice in and around the town of Fairview. Shep, as he was usually called, was a bright and manly youth, and one who loved life out of doors.

Frank Dawson was a lad who had moved to the town some years before, and by his winning manner had made himself many friends. The boy had a habit of exaggerating when telling anything, and this had earned for him the nickname of Whopper---even though Frank never told anything in the shape of a deliberate falsehood. As some of his friends said, "you could tell Frank's whoppers a mile off,"

which was a pretty stiff "whopper" in itself.

These two boys had two close chums, Charley Dodge, usually called Snap---why n.o.body could tell---and Will Caslette, known as Giant, because of his small stature. Charley, or Snap, as I shall call him, was the son of one of the richest men of the district, his father owning a part interest in a sawmill and a large summer hotel, besides many acres of valuable forest and farm lands. Giant was the son of a widow who had once been poor but was now in comfortable circ.u.mstances. Though small for his age, the lad was as manly as any of his chums, and they thought the world of the little fellow.

The town of Fairview was a small but prosperous community, located on the Rocky River, ten miles above a sheet of water known as Lake Cameron. The place boasted of a score of stores, several churches, a volunteer fire department, and a railroad station---the latter a spot of considerable activity during the summer months.

All of the boys loved to camp out, and about a year before this tale opens had organized an outing or gun club, as related in detail in the volume called "_Four Boy Hunters_." They journeyed to the sh.o.r.es of Lake Cameron and then to another body of water called Firefly Lake, and had plenty of fun and not a few adventures. During their outing they had considerable trouble with a dudish sport---from town named Hamilton Spink, and his cronies, and were in great peril from a disastrous forest fire.

When school opened the young hunters returned to their studies, but with the approach of the winter holidays their thoughts turned again to the woods and water, and once more they sallied forth, as related in full in "_Guns and Snowshoes_." They found game in plenty, and also ran the perils of a great blizzard, and got lost in the snow.

"Shall we go out again?" was the question asked when the next summer vacation was at hand, and all answered in the affirmative. This time, as related in the volume called "_Young Hunters of the Lake_," they ventured considerably farther from home---to the sh.o.r.e of a lake said to be visited by a much-dreaded ghost. There they again went hunting and fis.h.i.+ng to their hearts' content, and once more had trouble with Ham Spink and his cronies. They saw the "ghost," and were at first badly scared, but in the end solved the awful mystery by proving that the "ghost" was nothing but a man---a relative of Giant, who had lost his mind and disappeared some time before. The man was restored to reason, and through his testimony Giant's mother obtained some money which had been tied up in the courts.

The finding of the man had brought the boy hunters back to Fairview before their summer vacation was half finished. What to do next was the question.

"We ought to go somewhere---staying at home is dead slow," was the way one of the lads expressed himself; but for a week or more nothing was done.

Whistling gaily to himself, Shep Reed hurried down to the lake front.

As he came out on one of the docks he caught sight of Snap, surrounded by half a dozen other lads, all carrying various bundles, and all equipped with guns and fis.h.i.+ng-rods.

"Ham Spink and his cronies," murmured the doctor's son to himself.

"Wonder where they are bound?"

"Oh, we are going to have the outing of our lives this trip," Ham Spink was declaring in his usual lordly fas.h.i.+on. "It's going to be the finest outing ever started from this town."

"Where are you going?" asked Snap curiously.

"Do you suppose we are going to tell you?" demanded another boy, a lad named Carl Dudder. "Not much! We don't want you to come sneaking after us, to shoot the game that we stir up."

"We never sneaked after you," cried Snap rather indignantly. "And we have always been able to stir up our own game."