lette, always called Billy
or Giant. He was the son of a widow lady, who owned a small but
neat cottage on one of the side streets of the town. Mrs. Caslette
thought the world of her offspring and Giant was fully worthy of
the affection she bestowed upon him. Although small in size he was
manly in his deportment, and at school he was as bright as any one in
his class.

About a year before, the four boys had organized an outing or gun
club and obtained permission to go camping for a few weeks in the
vicinity of Lake Cameron. They reached the lake after several
adventures and settled down in a comfortable camp, from which,
however, they were driven by a saw mill owner named Andrew Felps,
who ran a rival concern to that in which Snap's father owned an
interest. The young hunters then moved to Firefly Lake, a mile
away, and there hunted and fished to their hearts' content. They
were frequently joined by old Jed Sanborn, a trapper who lived in
the mountains between the lakes. They had some trouble with Ham
Spink, a dudish young man of the town, who established a rival camp
not far off, and they came close to perishing during a disastrous
forest fire.

The summer outing made the boys hungry for more, and as soon as
the winter holidays were at hand they made arrangements to go
into the woods again, this time taking their outfits on sleds.
They had with them their snowshoes, and found the latter articles
very useful when out after game. They fixed up a comfortable
camp, and rescued a half-frozen tramp. But the tramp did not
appreciate what had been done for him and ran away with some of
their things, which brought on a lively pursuit. Then the boys
had more trouble with Ham Spink and his crony, Carl Dudder. In
the end it was discovered that Ham and Carl had gotten the tramp
to annoy the young hunters, and as a result Mr. Spink and Mr.
Dudder had to foot some heavy bills for their sons. Ham and Carl
were sent off to a strict boarding school, where their parents
hoped they would turn over a new leaf. Snap and his chums came
back home loaded down with game.

"The best outing ever!" declared more than one of the boys.

"We'll have to go again!"

"Yes, indeed!"

And then and there they began to plan what to do during the next
vacation.

"I've got an idea," said Snap, one day, during the spring. "Why
not get a good boat---one that will stand some hard knocks---and
go through Lake Cameron and Firefly Lake to