ain. They had to pass some
bushes and rocks, and then came to a point where a spur of land
jutted far out into Firefly Lake. It was a rocky and sandy spur,
with scarcely any brushwood on it.

"There you are!" said Snap, and pointed to the extreme end of the
spur. There, on the rocks, were two large foxes, their noses well
in the air, gazing down the lake attentively.

"We've got them," murmured the doctor's son. "Come on, we'll take
pictures first and then shoot them!"

He brought around his camera and the others did likewise. They had
just snapped the shutters when the foxes turned, saw them, and set
up a loud and angry barking and showed their teeth.

"They are coming for us!" yelled Giant, and he was right. Without
hesitation, the foxes made several big leaps and came directly for
the young hunters!

CHAPTER XXV

THE TWO FOXES

Ordinarily the foxes would have turned and run away, but, with the
lake behind them, this was impossible, consequently they showed
fight. They came on snapping and snarling viciously and with their
teeth gleaming in a manner that made the boys shudder.

Fortunately for the young hunters the distance from the spur of
rocks to where the lads stood was over fifty yards, so, as the
foxes came rushing on, they had just time enough to shove aside
their cameras and bring their shotguns to the front. Snap was
the first of the three to bring his weapon into play, and he pulled
the trigger when the fox was less than a dozen feet away.

The shot was a fairly good one, for it took the beast just under
the breast. The fox gave a yelp of intense pain and dropped back.

The other fox came rushing at the doctor's son. The strap of Shep's
gun had become entangled with that of his camera and consequently
it was next to impossible for him to bring the weapon into proper
play. He fired, but the charge went too high, and the beast continued
to come on, until it crouched at his feet, snapping viciously and
getting ready to leap at his throat.

It was now that Giant showed his mettle. He, too, had had a little
trouble in getting at his gun, but now the weapon was pointed at
the fox at Shep's feet. Giant ran closer and pulled the trigger.
Bang! went the gun, and the fox received the full charge directly
in the left ear. It keeled over, and Giant sent the second charge
of his double-barreled weapon into the second fox, and that, too,
went down and lay quivering in its death agonies