ed when he
came into the camp, dripping wet. But Archie took matters very
good-naturedly, and replied,

"If I had come back without the 'coon, I should never have heard the
last of it; and now you laugh at me because I fell into the drink
while I was trying to catch him."

In half an hour they reached the edge of the timber, and were about to
climb over the fence into the cornfield, when a long, loud bark echoed
through the woods.

"That's Brave," exclaimed Frank; "and," he continued, as all the dogs
broke out into a continuous cry, "they've found something. Let's go
back."

The boys all agreed to this, and they started back through the woods
as fast as their legs could carry them.

A few moments' run brought them in sight of the dogs, sitting on their
haunches at the foot of a stump, that rose to the hight of twenty
feet, without leaf or branch. Near the top were several holes; and, as
soon as Frank discovered these, he exclaimed,

"The dogs have got a squirrel in here."

"How are we going to work to get him out?" inquired Archie.

"Let's cut the stump down," said George.

"That's too much sugar for a cent," answered Harry. "That will be
working too hard for one squirrel."

"Why will it?" asked George. "The stump is rotten."

And he laid down his 'coon, and walked up and dealt the stump several
lusty blows with his ax.

Suddenly two large black squirrels popped out of one of the holes
near the top, and ran rapidly around the stump. Quick as thought,
Frank, who was always ready, raised his gun to his shoulder, and one
of the squirrels came tumbling to the ground; but, before he had time
to fire the second barrel, the other ran back into the hole.

"Hit the tree again, George," exclaimed Harry, throwing down his
'coon, and bringing his gun to his shoulder.

"It's no use," said Frank; "they will not come out again, if you pound
on the stump all day."

George, however, did as his brother had requested, but not a squirrel
appeared.

"Let's cut the tree down," said Archie.

And, suiting the action to the word, he set manfully to work.

A few blows brought off the outside "crust," and the heart of the tree
was found to be decayed, and, in a few moments, it came crashing to
the ground, and was shivered into fragments by the fall.

The boys supposed that there was only one squirrel in the tree, and
were running up to secure him, when, to their surprise, they
discovered a number of the little animals sc