"Now, with some cord and a bait I
reckon rabbits could be trapped or snared. Then gray squirrels are
plenty in here, if only you found a nest of the same in a hollow tree."

"And," added Landy with a yearning vein in his voice, "haven't we seen
whopping big green-back bullfrogs aplenty? If there's one dish I'm
fond of more than any other, that's fried frogs' legs. Yum! yum, don't
I wish we could spare the time to knock over a dozen of those bullies."

"Not while we're on such a duty as we started out to fulfill, Landy,"
Elmer advised the fat scout.

"Then there are fish in these waters, too, fat sunfish as big as any I
ever set eyes on," continued Toby; "and when you're hungry they taste
prime, though I hate the bones, and came near choking to death once on
a sunny. Worse than pickerel, according to my mind, and that's saying
a lot. Oh! I guess a smart fellow with matches to make fires, could
manage to keep the wolf from his door in here all right."

"But all men are not up to one-tenth of the resources known to Boy
Scouts," ventured Elmer, "which is why they generally have to rely on
staving off hunger by raiding the chicken roosts of poor farmers.
That'll be enough for this time. Suppose we get aboard again, and
continue our exploration of Sassafras Swamp."

"It's a sure-enough big patch of mud and water and brush and mystery,"
admitted Mark, as they began to climb into the boats again as before.

"And from what Johnny told me we haven't seen as much as a tenth of the
place yet," Elmer assured them; whereat there were all sorts of
incredulous looks to the right and to the left, as though the magnitude
of their task might by this time be making a stronger impression on the
boys' minds.

A change was made in pushers as they started off once more. It turned
out to be no child's play handling that long, heavy pole which had a
faculty for clinging to the ooze below the surface of the water, and
necessitating more or less exertion in order to drag it loose each time
it was used.

Landy had not taken his turn as yet. It really looked as though Lil
Artha was a little afraid of the fat scout, for he and Mark had
alternated in doing the work. Landy was not complaining at all.
Indeed, Lil Artha felt sure he could see a satisfied grin upon the
rubicund face of the happy-go-lucky, fat scout from time to time as he
heard the one at the pole puffing with the exertion.

Perhaps in the end it would prove to be a c