n's Club here in the settlement: will you join it?"

"Who are talking of getting it up, and what is the object of it?"
asked Don.

"All the boys are talking of it. One object is to bring the young
sportsmen of the neighborhood into more intimate relations, and
another is to protect the game. Perhaps I can give you no better idea
of the proposed organization than by reading this constitution, which
will be acted upon by the club at its first meeting."

As Lester said this he looked from one to the other of the brothers,
and receiving a nod from each which signified that they were ready to
listen, he drew out the document of which he had spoken, and
proceeded to read it in his best style. He glanced at his auditors
occasionally while he was reading the paper, and when he came to a
certain paragraph, the one upon which he and Bob had expended the
most time and thought, he told himself that he had certainly made an
impression, for Bert looked bewildered and Don straightened up, drew
a note-book from his pocket and began making entries therein with a
lead-pencil. The paragraph read as follows:

"The great object of the club being to put down pot-hunters and
poachers, and stop the practice, which is so common, of trapping game
and shipping it out of the country, it is hereby

"_Resolved_, that on and after the date of the adoption of this
constitution, it shall be unlawful for any person to take by
trapping, at any season of the year, or on any lands, whether private
in their own occupation, public or waste, any of the game animals and
birds hereinafter described, to wit: pheasant (_T. Scolopax_);
partridge (_Picus Imperialis_); rabbit (_Ortyx Virgiana_); and red
deer (_Canis Lupus_). The penalty for disobedience shall be a fine of
ten dollars for the first offence, twenty for the second, thirty for
the third, and so on; the fines to be sued and recovered before any
justice of the peace in the county, and to be divided in equal parts
between the informer and the poor; and in default of payment the
offender shall be imprisoned for ten days in the county jail."

When the document was finished, Don asked him to read this clause
over again. He complied with the request, and as he folded the paper
very deliberately waited for his auditors to say a word of
commendation; but as they didn't do it, he said it himself.

"Now, I drew up that instrument, and I think it is just about right,"
said he, complacently. "It is nothing b