he laid it across his knees, and waited there
motionless, imitating the yelp of a turkey the while. Three or four
small canes, graduated in size, and fitted firmly one into the other,
enabled him to make the note, and so expert had he become by long
practice that the deception was perfect.

After a pause he repeated the call; then came another pause, another
call, and over in the distance there sounded an answer. How the blood
coursed through the old man's veins as he listened! There it was
again. It was coming nearer, but very slowly. He wondered how many
were in the flock, and called once more. This time, to his surprise,
an answer came from a different direction--a long, rasping sound, a
sort of cross between a cock's crow and a turkey's yelp.

He started involuntarily, and very cautiously peeped around. Hardly
twenty steps from him another gray head protruded itself from the hole
of another tree, and Grandpa Davis and Grandpa Dun looked into each
other's eyes.

"I'll be double-jumped-up if that ain't Dick!" cried Grandpa Davis,
under his breath. "And there ain't a turkey as ever wore a feather
that he could fool. A minute more, and he'll spile the fun. Dick," he
commanded, "stop that racket, and sneak over here by me," beckoning
mysteriously. "Sh-h-h! they are answerin' ag'in. Down on your
marrow-bones whilst I call."

Flattening himself upon the ground as nearly as he could, and creeping
behind the undergrowth, Grandpa Dun made his way laboriously to the
desired spot. He had never excelled in calling turkeys, but he was a
far better shot than Grandpa Davis.

Without demur the two old boys fell naturally into the _role_ of
former days. Breathless and excited, they crouched there, waiting for
the fateful moment. Their nerves were tense, their eyes dilated, and
their hearts beating like trip-hammers.

Grandpa Davis had continued to call, and now the answer was very near.

"Gimme the first shot, Billy," whispered Grandpa Dun. "I let you do
the callin'; and, besides, you know you never could hit nothin' that
wasn't as big as the side of a meetin'-house."

Before Grandpa Davis had time to reply, there came the "put-put-put"
which signals possible danger. A stately gobbler raised his head to
reconnoitre; two guns were fired almost simultaneously, and, with a
whir and a flutter, the flock disappeared in the cane brake.

The two old boys bounded over the intervening sticks and stumps with
an agility that Walter h