to the trap close about the
trigger. The rest of the corn he hung up out of reach on a sapling
which he knew was too small for the bear to climb.

Assisted by the current the canoe made good time down the bayou. Bert
and David lay back in the stern-sheets and said they were tired,
while Don, who was seated at the oars, declared that his day's work
had relieved his stiff joints, and that he began to feel like himself
again. He was fresh enough to assist in building another trap without
an hour's rest; and in order to work off a little of his surplus
energy, he thought when he reached home he would take a turn through
the fields in company with his pointer, and see if he could bag
quails enough for his next morning's breakfast. Bert said he would go
with him, for he wanted to see the pointer work.

In about three quarters of an hour the canoe entered the lake and
drew up to the bank in front of Godfrey's cabin. David sprang out,
and after placing his gun upon the bench in front of the door, went
behind the building to unchain the pointer. He was gone a long
time--so long that Don and Bert, who were sitting in the canoe
waiting for him, began to grow impatient--and when he came back he
did not bring the pointer with him. He brought instead a chain and a
collar. His face told the brothers that he had made a most unwelcome
discovery.

"Where's the dog?" asked Bert.

"I don't know," answered David, looking up and down the road. "He
must have slipped the collar over his head and gone off; but I never
knew him to do it before."

"Well, you needn't look so sober about it," said Don. "He isn't far
away. I'll warrant I can bring him back."

Don set up a whistle that could have been heard for half a mile.
Indeed it was heard and recognised at a greater distance than that.
An answering yelp came from the direction of his father's house,
but it was not given by the dog Don wanted to see just then. It was
uttered by one of the hounds which had been shut up in the barn when
Don went away that morning, and afterward released by the hostler.
The others answered in chorus, and half a dozen fleet animals were
seen coming down the road at the top of their speed. But the pointer
was not with them.

"It's likely we shall find him at the house," said Bert, who wanted
to say something encouraging for David's benefit.

"I don't doubt it," returned Don. "If he's there, Dave, we'll take a
short hunt with him and bring him down in the mo