ee rabbits came down, and a
few minutes later Sam brought another one low.

"Four for a starter are not so bad," remarked Tom, as the game was
placed in their bags. "Even if we don't get any more we won't have to go
home empty-handed."

By noon they had made their way directly through the woods and had
eleven rabbits and three squirrels to their credit. Then Tom suggested
they build a campfire and rest while eating their lunch and this was
done.

"I wish we could bring down a fox or two," said Jack Ness. "They have
been bothering the chickens again lately--carried off two only night
before last."

"Do you know where they hang out?" asked Dick.

"I think they come from over yonder," and the hired man pointed with his
hand to the northward.

"Let us travel in that direction after dinner," suggested Sam. "Even if
we don't spot any foxes we may find as many rabbits and squirrels there
as anywhere else."

The others were willing, and half of the afternoon was spent by the four
hunters in a locality that was new to them. One fox was sighted, and
Jack Ness shot the animal in the hind quarters, and then Sam finished
him by a shot in the side.

"Well, that makes one fox less anyway," said the hired man.

They kept on, and brought down two rabbits and a wild turkey. By this
time they were pretty well tired out, and Tom suggested that they start
for home.

"It's a long tramp," he said, "and by the time we get back I guess we'll
all be ready to rest."

"As for that, I am ready to rest now," said Sam. "Tramping through the
snow is no easy task."

"Especially if a fellow's legs aren't very long," returned Dick, with a
grin.

"Well, mine are as long as they ought to be," came from Sam, promptly.
"They reach to the ground, and yours don't reach any further," and then
there was a general laugh, Jack Ness guffawing loudly.

The hired man said he knew of a short cut to the farm, and they followed
him to something of a path through the woods and then out on a trail
made years before by charcoal burners. Soon they came in sight of a
cabin, from the chimney of which the smoke was curling.

"Who lives here?" asked Dick.

"An old man named Derringham," answered Jack Ness. "He is very old and
somewhat out of his head. He makes his living by selling herbs and barks
for medicine. Years ago, so they say, he was an herb doctor, but he
didn't have a certificate, or something like that, so the authorities
drove him out of busin