, pull that stool up; Will,
the settee must do for you and Bluff. Now, are you ready?" he asked,
tantalizingly.

"Crazy to hear!" was the characteristic reply of Bluff, otherwise Richard
Masters, son of Centerville's greatest lawyer.

"Tell me about that, will you?" exclaimed Jerry Wallington.

"Please go on before we explode!" begged Will Milton.

"These things always have a beginning, you know. This one happens
to be founded on the fact that we are close to our annual Christmas
vacation, and that this year it happens that we're going to enjoy
two full weeks--you know that?" said Frank.

"Of course we do, thanks to that steam-heater getting out of order. But
don't rehash old stuff. That's history by now. What we want is the meat
in the cocoanut. Please hit for the bull's-eye, first chop," pleaded
Will.

"I was wondering what we would do with ourselves during that time.
There's old Jesse Wilcox, the trapper, who invited us up to spend a
week with him and see how he runs out his string of traps in cold
weather, catching muskrats, mink, 'coons, foxes and all such things in
more or less abundance. We had about decided that we would accept, and I
was even getting ready to go when something happened."

"Talk to me about your tantalizing chaps, did you ever meet up with one
as bad as Frank can be when he knows the rest of us are so keen to hear?"
cried Jerry.

"What was it?" demanded Bluff.

"I had a letter that changed my mind," replied Frank.

"Not from old Jesse?"

"Well, hardly, for I don't believe the old fellow can write. This was
from one of my cousins, a fellow several years older than myself. You met
him about a year ago when he stopped with us a few days."

"You must mean Archie Dunn," said Will.

"Go up head, Will. Archie it was. I was glad enough to get a letter from
him, but when I read what he had to propose I thought I should have a
fit."

"Just as we will, unless you hurry your yarn," growled Jerry, moving
uneasily.

"Well, Archie wrote that he had laid out a plan for his amusement this
winter. You know he is independent, having come into quite a snug
fortune. He is as fond of outdoor life as any member of this club, and,
having a tutor to accompany him, is able to do lots of splendid stunts
that less fortunate chaps can only dream about."

"The lucky dog!" commented Bluff, enviously.

"It seems that this year he was about to carry out a long-cherished plan
of his. He purchased a beautif