nk there was nade of making it all plain how it was.

"Wai, the owld gintleman wouldn't listen to me goin' away, but I managed
it so well that after awhile he kind of remarked that if the folks
wanted me, he'd no objection to me goin', as he belaved that I would
make more there than I would at home.

"_That_ was the p'int," added Terry, with a wink, as he replaced his
cap; "and there was where me genius showed itself; I spoke about the big
lot of furs that had to be gathered, and how much money the hunters
would make, and what a chance there was for a risin' young man of
industrious habits. The owld gintleman took it in, and at last said,
bein' as I had the new gun, why he didn't know but what I might give it
a trial.

"Wal, that was all I wanted. I started to run over last night to tell
ye, but afore I got to yer house I thought of this 'cute plan of
s'prisin' ye. I got all ready last night, ate breakfast airly, and was
down here and had me gun just as I observed ye makin' yer way across the
clearin' toward this spot."

And so it came about that on this beautiful sunshiny day in autumn, Fred
Linden and Terry Clark set out, each with ammunition and loaded rifle,
for a hundred mile tramp toward the wild region of the Ozark Mountains.
The air was crisp and cool, and every thing joined to give them a
buoyancy of spirits such as falls to the lot only of rugged, growing
boys in bounding health.

The two, however, had seen enough of life in the woods to know that the
sunshine and clear air would not last. They might continue until they
reached camp, but more than likely clouds, rain, chilly weather and
possibly a flurry of snow would overtake them. Winter was at hand, and
though, as I have shown, they were in quite a temperate clime, it was
subject to violent changes, as trying as those in a much more northern
latitude.

Besides, the trail, although distinctly marked, did not lead over any
thing like even ground all the way. Long before they could reach the
vicinity of the camp the character of the country told of the wild,
rocky region, covering thousands of square miles, and known as the Ozark
Mountains. No route could lead to such a distance through an unsettled
country without crossing a number of streams, and passing through
regions that were any thing but attractive to the traveler.

All this, however, gave just the element of danger and difficulty to the
enterprise that was one of the most delightful features t