he nearest buck was within easy range, but the grass hid
his body and when the creature, scenting his enemy, threw his head
high in the air Ned sent a bullet through his brain. As the boys
were dragging the carcass to the woods where they proposed to skin
and cut it in two for carrying to camp, Dick said to Ned:

"Do you know what hypocrite means?"

"I s'pose so, but what are you trying to get at?"

"Hypocrite means a fellow who tells his friend that the only way to
shoot a buck is through the body, coz the head is too small to be
hit, and then goes out himself and sends a bullet plumb through the
center of the brain of the beast."

"But Dick, I couldn't see the shoulder."

"Neither could I. You can't sneak out that way."

A strong wind from the northwest sprang up while the boys were
finishing their supper of broiled buck's liver and they built a
wind-break to protect them while they slept. The wind became a gale,
but they slept soundly, soothed by its roaring. They were rudely
wakened by the crashing of some wild animal through the brush of
their wind-break and, sitting up, saw that the whole western sky was
lit up and all beyond the dark meadow was a lurid mass of flame.
The roar of the fire mingled with that of the gale, while, as the
swirling columns of flame bent to the earth and swept the meadow,
the crackling of the grass was like the rattling of musketry or the
spitting fire of a hundred Catlings. Soon the air became filled with
sparks and cinders, and thick with smoke.

"We've got to mosey, Ned. Reckon there isn't any time to waste,
either. Shall we take the meat?"

"Got enough to do to take care of our own."

There was plenty of light, but the flickering shadows of the trees
caused by the wavering flames made the steps of the boys uncertain
as they fled from the flames that were following so fast. Ned fell
headforemost into a thicket of the terrible Spanish bayonet and it
was only the excitement of the hour that made the pain bearable.
They floundered across the narrow swamp and into the marshy meadow
often waist deep in the mud and more than once both of them fell
flat in the water of the marsh. The narrow belt of timber which they
first crossed checked the fire and although tongues of flame crossed
it and a few trees took fire, while live coals were scattered
broadcast over the marshy meadow, the fire died out without crossing
the belt of woods that first stopped it. The boys crossed the marshy