lling lustily to one another from all
directions.

Once a young deer bounded toward the boys, then, after standing for a
moment, gazing with great, timid, bright eyes, wheeled and was away
again, springing over bushes and logs with a showy vigor as though it
were out only for a spring frolic. A wild turkey hen, wandering about in
search of a place for nesting, scampered softly out of sight as it caught
sight of the lads. A big woodchuck, fat and lazy, even after its
all-winter nap, circled around a tree, to whose trunk it was clinging,
thinking, perhaps, that it was always keeping just out of sight of the
human intruders upon its forest home, though it was badly fooled if such
were its opinion. A dozen times either boy could have shot it had he been
so disposed.

A myriad of ducks flew noisily from a stream near the lake in which they
were feeding as John threw a stone among them. He and Ree could have
killed a score of the wild fowls had they wished to do so, but they were
in no mood for it. They had not set out to hunt, and moreover, the fresh,
balmy air and invigorating sunlight, together with the delightful odors
of the spring-time, put upon them both a spell--a joy in living which
made it seem inhuman to harm any living creature that day.

This sense of gladness, of friendship with every thing the woods
contained, did not, however, prevent the boys from laying plans for the
capture of certain denizens of the forest's waters--the fish. They had
already noticed that the lake beside which the Delawares lived, also
other lakes not far away, and their own river, contained great numbers of
the finny tribe, but they had been too busy with other things to try
their hands at fishing. The opportunity for this fine sport, however,
caused them to deeply regret that they had brought nothing in the line of
fishing tackle with them.

"The Indians will surely have hooks, and spears, though," John
suggested.

"If they haven't, we can make nets and spears too; I shouldn't be
surprised if we could contrive hooks as well," Ree answered.

"I wish we had a big mess of fish for dinner!" John exclaimed. "I'm
hungry as a bear."

His wish was realized sooner than he expected. As was their custom, the
Indians at once placed food before their visitors, and the fare was just
what John had wanted. There was one objection--the savages cooked the
fish without cutting off the heads, but the boys did this for themselves.
That they could no