h of the tree.

"There it is!" exclaimed Randy, and was on the point of firing when the
wildcat--for such it had proved to be--dropped out of sight and leaped
to a branch on the other side of the tree trunk.

"Hi there! don't drive that beast up here," called out Andy.

"Andy," called back his twin suddenly, "weren't you carrying that
flashlight?"

"No, I left it at the Lodge. I didn't think I would want it on the trip
to Henryville."

"I've got my flashlight," remarked Gif. "Here it is," and he brought it
forth.

The light was flashed up into the tree and around from branch to branch.
As the rays traveled through the cedar there was a sudden wild cry from
the animal, and then came a swish and a whirr as the wildcat sprang to
the outer end of a limb and then down into the snow.

Bang! bang! bang! went the guns in the hands of Gif, Randy, and Spouter.
But whether they hit the wildcat or not, they could not tell. There was
a whirl in the snow, and then in a twinkling the beast had disappeared
into the forest behind them.

"Well, it's gone, anyhow," declared Jack, in a tone of great relief.
"You can come down, Andy."

Andy was soon out of the tree, and, having picked up the two partridges,
the six young hunters continued on their way, as they supposed, in the
direction of Cedar Lodge.

Presently they came to another clearing, and on the far side of this
noted some animals hopping about which they felt certain must be
rabbits.

"Let's go over there!" cried Fred excitedly. "Maybe we can make a good
haul."

"It's a pretty good tramp around to the other side of this clearing,"
remarked Gif. "And it looks to me as if it might begin to snow again,"
he added, with a glance at the sky which was now heavily overcast.

But all of the others wanted a chance to get more game, so in the end
the six cadets tramped around one edge of the clearing until they
reached a point close to the spot where the rabbits had been seen. Here
the bunnies were out in force, trying to find something to eat, and they
had but little difficulty in bagging four of the creatures.

"Well, that's not so bad but what it might be worse," announced Jack.

"We should have had more than four," grumbled Randy. "There were at
least fifteen or sixteen rabbits to be seen." He had missed what he had
thought to be a comparatively easy shot.

"Well, we can't have everything," declared Spouter philosophically.

They trudged on once more, Gif, as before