tand that we'll have no peace of our lives
till he either gets his little fire started, or else makes a failure of
the game."

"Anyhow," broke in Allan from the rear, "no matter how it comes out, the
rest of us stand to have a free feast later on. It's 'heads I win, tails
you lose,' for the balance of the Silver Fox Patrol. And in advance, we
hand our united thanks to Bumpus; or will it be Giraffe?"

"And," Bumpus went on, calmly; "while Giraffe is worrying his poor old
head over that puzzle every time we get settled in camp, I'll be
improving each shining hour like the busy little bee, trying out my new
gun. Told you fellows, I was going to invest the first chance I got; and
here's my brand new double barrel; that's guaranteed, the man said, to
knock the spots out of any big game that I hold it on."

"Huh!" grunted Giraffe, who seemed a trifle grumpy on account of having
his fire-making abilities made fun of, for he was quite touchy on that
score; "chances are, it'll knock spots out of you, first of all, or give
you a few to remember it by, if you go and get excited, and pull both
triggers at once, as you're likely to do, if I know you at all, Bumpus."

"What in the wide world did you go and get a big ten bore for, when
you're such a short fellow?" asked Thad, who had often wanted to find
out about this particular subject.

Bumpus, who was fondling his new possession, grinned rather sheepishly.

"Well," he remarked, "you see, Thad's Marlin, and Davy's gun are both
twelve guage, and I thought we ought to have variety in the crowd, so I
got a ducking gun. Besides, I knew it would be better when I came to
shoot buckshot in it, just like I've got in the chambers right now,
ready for any old moose bull that chooses to show up. And in fact,
fellows, it was the only sort of shotgun I could buy, unless I took one
of them pump guns; and I just couldn't think of working all that
machinery when I get so rattled, you know."

"Please keep that blunderbuss pointed the other way, Bumpus," said Step
Hen.

"Yes, for goodness' sake don't you turn it around here!" called out
Giraffe. "If ever you blew a hole in the bottom of this canvas canoe,
we'd go down like a stone."

"I'd be sorry for that," remarked Bumpus, still fondling his new
purchase lovingly, although he kept it pointed ahead, as directed;
"because, you see, we've got a lot of good grub aboard this canoe, and
it might get soaked."

"Huh! thinking of the grub befor