out in the
middle of the lake, restrain your enthusiasm a bit, please. It isn't the
easiest thing in the world, climbing over the stern of a canoe with all
your clothes on," he warned them.

"But is it really true?" pleaded Will. "Have I crawled through decently?
Well, I'm glad; not only because it will keep four chums together a
while longer, in college, but my mother has set her heart on this thing.
Yes, I'm mighty well pleased."

Will's mother was a rich widow, and as he had only a twin sister,
Violet, for whom Frank entertained a pronounced liking, the two were
more than ordinarily dear to Mrs. Milton.

"Well, fellows, let's give one mighty cheer because of our good
fortune," said Jerry, his face beaming with delight; for the chums were
very fond of each other, and had a single one been left behind on the
following year, when the college term opened, there would have been many
a keen regret.

"Hip, hip, hurrah! Hurrah! hurrah! Tiger!"

No doubt, many persons ashore, who heard that lusty shout come ringing
over the clear water of the beautiful little lake on which the town of
Centerville was located, wondered what the burst of enthusiasm meant.

But then they knew these four boys were built along the right lines,
and that while they loved the whole outdoors, with its attendant
exciting times, never had they been known to indulge in mean pranks.

After the cheer had died away there was a shaking of hands all around.

"Fellows, it begins to look as though our great trip to the Gulf of
Mexico last winter might not be our last grand outing, after all. You
know what our parents promised us if we went through all right?"

"Hear! hear! Frank has the floor!" cried Jerry.

"We were to have our choice of an extended tour through Yellowstone Park
to California, and return by way of the Canadian Rockies; or a grand
hunt in the wilderness, wherever we chose to take it. That was the idea,
wasn't it?" went on the happy occupant of the _Jupiter_.

"Talk to me about your personally conducted tours all you please,
nothing appeals to me like a real old hunt in the Great West," said
Jerry ecstatically. "Haven't I just longed for a chance to look at a big
elk in his native wilds, for years? And the thought of a grizzly bear
sends a thrill of pleasure through me."

"And as for me, haven't I lain awake nights without number thinking
about what bliss it would be to actually snap off a few pictures of
those same animals right w