finest head in Maine. So here's your chance for
a trophy, boys. I guess 'twill be your only one."

"Hurrah! I'm in for this game!" cried Neal.

"I too," said Cyrus.

"I'm in for it with a vengeance!" whooped Dol. "Though I'm blessed if
I've a notion what 'calling a moose' means."

"How much have you larned, anyhow, Kid, in the bit o' time you've been
alive?" asked the woodsman, with good-humored sarcasm.

"Enough to make my fists talk to anybody who thinks I'm a duffer,"
answered Dol, squaring his shoulders as if to make the most of himself.

"Good for you, young England!" laughed Cyrus.

Herb turned his eyes, and regarded the juvenile Adolphus with amused
criticism.

"Britisher or no Britisher, I'll allow you're a little man," he
muttered. "Keep a stiff upper lip, boys; we're not far from camp now."

A word of cheer was needed. Not one of the trio had growled at their
load, but the flannel shirts of the two Farrars clung wetly to their
bodies. Their breath was coming in hard puffs through spread nostrils. A
four-mile tramp through the woods, heavily laden with raw meat, was a
novel but not an altogether delightful experience.

However, the smell of moose-steak frying over their camp-fire later on
fully compensated them for acting as butcher's boys. When the taste as
well as the smell had been enjoyed, the rest which followed by the
blazing birch-logs that evening was so full of bliss that each camper
felt as if existence had at last drifted to a point of superb content.

Their camp-door stood open for ventilation; and a keen touch of frost,
mingling with the night air which entered, made the fragrant warmth
delightful.

When supper was ended, and the tin vessels from which it had been eaten,
together with all camp utensils, were duly cleaned, Herb seated himself
on the middle of the bench, which he called "the deacon's seat," and
luxuriously lit his oldest pipe. His brawny hands had performed every
duty connected with the meal as deftly and neatly as those of a
delicate-fingered woman.

"Well, for downright solid comfort, boys, give me a cosey camp-fire in
the wilderness, when a fellow is tired out after a good day's outing.
City life can offer nothing to touch it," said Cyrus, as he spread his
blankets near the cheerful blaze, and sprawled himself upon them.

Neal and Dol followed his example. The three looked up at their guide,
on whose weather-tanned face the fire shed wavering lights, in lazy
expec