n to kill both with
one bullet. It was not a mere desire to slaughter or to display
marksmanship, but they needed the extra turkey for food.

"Are you ready, Tom?" he asked. "Then fire."

They pulled triggers, there were two sharp reports terribly loud to both
under the circumstances, and three of the biggest and fattest of the
turkeys fell heavily to the ground, while the rest flapped their wings,
and with frightened gobbles flew away.

Henry was about to rush forward, but Silent Tom held him back.

"Don't show yourself, Henry! Don't show yourself!" he cried in tense
tones.

"Why, what's the matter?" asked the boy in surprise.

"Don't you see that three turkeys fell, and we are only two to shoot?
An Injun is layin' 'roun' here some whar, an' he drawed a bead on one uv
them turkeys at the same time we did."

Henry laughed and put away Tom's detaining hand.

"There's no Indian about," he said. "I killed two turkeys with one shot,
and I'm mighty proud of it, too. I saw that they were directly in the
line of the bullet, and it went through both."

Silent Tom heaved a mighty sigh of relief, drawn up from great depths.

"I'm tre-men-jeous-ly glad uv that, Henry," he said. "Now when I saw
that third turkey come tumblin' down I wuz shore that one Injun or mebbe
more had got on this snug little place uv ourn in the swamp, an' that
we'd hev to go to fightin' ag'in. Thar come times, Henry, when my mind
just natchally rises up an' rebels ag'in fightin', 'specially when I
want to eat or sleep. Ain't thar anythin' else but fight, fight, fight,
'though I 'low a feller hez got to expect a lot uv it out here in the
woods?"

They picked up the three turkeys, two gobblers and a hen, and found
them large and fat as butter. More than once the wild turkey had come to
their relief, and, in fact, this bird played a great part in the life
of the frontier, wherever that frontier might be, as it shifted steadily
westward. As they walked back toward the hut they faced three figures,
all three with leveled rifles.

"All right, boys," sang out Henry. "It's nobody but Tom and myself,
bringing in our breakfast."

The three dropped their rifles.

"That's good," said Shif'less Sol. "When them shots roused us out o'
our beauty sleep we thought the whole Iroquois nation, horse, foot,
artillery an' baggage wagons, wuz comin' down upon us. So we reckoned
we'd better go out an' lick 'em afore it wuz too late.

"But it's you, an' you've go