THE boys were to have a shooting-match.

The targets, eight in number, which had been made by the boys a few days
before, were really fine affairs. They were painted on sheets of strong
pasteboard, and were each about eighteen inches in diameter. Every
circle, from the bull's-eye to the outer ring, was carefully made out,
and all the targets were of exactly the same measurements. Eight rough
tripods already awaited them at the shooting-range, and each tripod had
its upright piece of eighteen-inch plank at the top, to which a
pasteboard target was now to be firmly fastened.

On any ordinary occasion one or two tripods would have been sufficient,
but on this special day there was to be a real "match," and a target to
each man would be required, so that the contestants could show a clear
record of every shot. Experience had proved this to be the best plan.

The spot selected for the shooting-range was well adapted to the
purpose. It was a plateau or broad strip of level land, forming the
summit of the long slope that rose from the apple-orchard back of the
Reed mansion. At the rear or eastern limit of this level land was a
steep, grassy ridge, called by the D's the second hill.

Perhaps you will see the plateau more clearly if you read this
description which Dorry afterward wrote in a letter to a friend at
boarding-school:

"Don and the boys have made a rustic summer-house
by an apple-tree on the second hill, back of the
house. It's so high up that you can look across
our place from it, and see the lake in front, and
the village far down at the left. It is beautiful,
at sunset, looking from the summer-house, for then
the lake sometimes seems to be on fire, and the
trees in the orchard between us and the road send
long shadows that creep, creep up the hill as if
they were alive. You see we really have two hills,
and these are separated or joined, whichever you
please, by a long level strip more than a hundred
feet wide, forming a grassy terrace. I often
imagine a long row of enormous giants resting
there on the grass side by side, sitting on the
great wide level place, with their backs leaning
against the second hill, and their feet reaching
nearly to the edge of the first hill. Now, I hope
you understand. If you don't you will wh