look as though you
were troubled about something."

"I am troubled about a good many things," said David, speaking now
after a desperate effort. "In the first place, there are two fellows
here who say I shan't trap any birds."

"Who are they?" demanded Don, surprised and indignant.

"My brother Dan is one of them."

"Whew!" whistled Don, opening his eyes and looking at Bert.

"I didn't want him to know anything about it," continued David, "for
I was certain that he would make me trouble; but he found it out by
listening while I was talking about it, and wanted to join in with
me. I told him I didn't want him, and he said I shouldn't catch any
birds."

"Did he say what he would do to prevent it?" asked Bert.

"O, it's easy enough to tell what he will do," exclaimed Don. "He'll
steal or break the traps and kill the quails. There are plenty of
ways in which he can trouble us, if he makes up his mind to it."

"Who is the other?" asked Bert.

"Lester Brigham."

Don whistled again, and then looked angry.

"When did you see him, and what did he have to say about it?" he
asked. "Has he any reason to hold a grudge against you?"

"I didn't know that he had until I met him in the road this morning.
He says he won't have me trapping quails and sending them off North,
because it will make them scarce here. He says he is going to get up
a Sportsman's Club among the fellows, and then he will keep
pot-hunters like me where we belong."

"Oho!" exclaimed Bert. "It seems to me that he is taking a good deal
upon himself."

"That is what he has done ever since he has been here, and that's why
there are so many boys in the settlement who don't like him," said
Don. "But he mustn't meddle with this business. He can't come down
here into a country that is almost a wilderness and manage matters as
they do up North. Father told me the other day that in some states
they have laws to protect game, and it is right that they should
have, for there are so many hunters that if they were not restrained
they would kill all the birds and animals in a single season. The
most of the hunters live in the city, and when they get out with
their guns they crack away at everything they see; and if they happen
to kill a doe with a fawn at her side, or a quail with a brood of
chicks, it makes no difference to them. Sportsman's Clubs are of some
_use_ there, but we have no need of them in this country."

"He wants the quails left here, so that he