attering in different
directions, and drawing "bee-lines" for the nearest trees.

Frank killed one with his remaining barrel, and Harry, by an excellent
shot, brought down another that had climbed up into the top of a tall
oak, and was endeavoring to hide among the leaves. Brave and Sport
both started after the same one, and overtook and killed it before it
could reach a tree; but the grayhound came very near losing his. As
soon as the stump had fallen, he singled out one of the squirrels,
and, with two or three of his long bounds, overtook it; but, just as
he was going to seize it, the squirrel dived into a pile of brush, out
of the reach of the hound. A few loud, angry yelps brought Archie and
George to his assistance, and they immediately began to pull the pile
of brush to pieces. Suddenly the squirrel darted out, and started for
a tree that stood about two rods distant. The boys threw their clubs
at him, but he reached the foot of the tree unharmed. At this moment
Lightfoot discovered him; two or three bounds carried him to the tree,
and, crouching a moment, he sprang into the air, and attempted to
seize the squirrel. But he was just a moment too late; the little
animal had ascended out of his reach; but the next moment the sharp
report of Harry's gun brought him to the ground.

The squirrels were now all secured, and the young hunters again turned
their faces homeward.

One cold, stormy night, in the latter part of October, Frank and his
cousin lay snug in bed, listening to the howling of the wind and the
pattering of the rain against the window, and talking over their
plans for the future, when, all at once, Frank sat upright in bed,
and, seizing Archie's arm with a grip that almost wrung from him a cry
of pain, exclaimed,

"Listen! listen!"

And the next moment, clear and loud above the noise of the storm, they
heard the trumpet-like notes of a flock of wild geese. They passed
over the house, and the sound grew fainter as they flew rapidly away.

"My eye!" exclaimed Archie, "don't I wish it was daylight, and we
stood out in front of the house, with our guns all ready!"

"That's a nice thing to wish for," answered Frank; "but, if it were
daylight, we should not stand any better chance of shooting them than
we do here in bed."

"What's the reason?"

"Why, in the first place, if they went over at all, they would fly so
high that it would need a rifle to reach them; and, in the next place,
we have not got