hat
Andy has got my beautiful gun in his camp, he's smart enough to keep it
under cover. I never had even a peep at it. But just wait. I'm going to
get that gun back if it takes all winter," declared Bluff.

"He'll do it too, just mark me," observed Frank, nodding to Jerry.

Apparently the other was tired of hearing about that same gun, for he
only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

In the morning Jerry tried his hand at skinning the game. He had
taken particular pains to notice just how old Jesse Wilcox did this
sort of thing, and, being a clever imitator, he managed to succeed
after a fashion.

Frank meanwhile had made a frame suitable to the size of the skin, and
upon this the hairy pelt was stretched, care being taken to keep it in
the shade, and not near the heat of the fire, while drying.

Later on in the day Jerry and Frank took a stroll through the woods, and
managed to bring back three partridge and several gray squirrels. Frank
would not let Toby cook the latter as the other wished.

"They are always tough for frying unless parboiled first. After skinning
and cutting up I always put the pieces in a pot, and boil until tender;
then take them out, dry off, and put them in a hot pan in which several
pieces of salt pork have been first tried out. I think you'll say they're
all right when you get your teeth in them, fellows," he remarked.

And they did.

Will managed to take a few views during the middle of the day, prowling
in the neighborhood of the camp. There was a pretty stream not far away,
and it ran over rocks and between attractive banks, so that half a dozen
charming pictures presented themselves to the eyes of the artist.

The Fall had not advanced so far as to show signs of ice on the water,
though there were times when the air was very crisp and frosty.

Bluff had remained in camp pretty much all day. He seemed uneasy, and
passed in and out of the tents frequently as though wondering what could
have happened to bring about such a mysterious disappearance of his
beloved gun.

Sitting by the fire for a time, he would conceive some idea, and jumping
to his feet hurry into the woods to search a particular spot where he
remembered having passed over on that never-to-be-forgotten night.

Still, when the others returned in the afternoon there was the same look
of distress upon his face.

"Talk to me about a pagan and his idols," said Jerry, aside to Frank;
"Bluff has the whole show beaten. I n