ve accepted any such cheerful invitation,
and, instead of replying, he looked carefully around in search of the
speaker.

"Hold out your hat, and I will show you what I can do," continued the
voice, while its owner persistently remained hidden.

"I don't know who you are," said Ralph, speaking sharply; "but from what
I have already seen of your reckless shooting, I consider it to be some
one's duty to teach you how to handle fire-arms."

"And you propose to do it, eh?" was the question, as a boy eighteen or
nineteen years of age, with a face that was the perfect picture of good
humor, walked out of the thicket. On his shoulder he carried a rifle,
and in his left hand some partridges and a fox-skin. "That was a nasty
shave for you," he continued, in a half-apologetic tone; "but, you see,
I hadn't any idea there was any one around. Farmer Kenniston is down on
the meadow, and Harnett went to town this morning; so you see that, by
rights, you ought not have been here."

"And because, in your opinion, I should have been somewhere else, you
concluded to send me away by the most certain and effectual method?"
asked Ralph, having by no means subdued his anger, although it was
vanishing quite rapidly before the pleasant tone and face of the boy
who had come so near killing him.

"Well, you see, I didn't know you or any one else was within a mile of
the place. I had a charge left in my rifle, and I wanted to see if I
could knock a knot out of that second board in the barn. Just as I
pulled the trigger, you came from behind the shed, and then I couldn't
call the bullet back. I am sorry that I startled you so, and I was in
hopes you would hold out your hat, so that you could have seen how handy
I am with a rifle, which would have made you feel easier."

"I must confess that I can't understand how I could be soothed by any
proof of your skill as a marksman," replied Ralph, with a smile, his
anger now almost completely gone. "Of course, I know that you didn't
intend to shoot so near me; but in the future I advise you to empty your
rifle before you come so near to a house."

"But I have wanted to put a bullet into that knot from the trees back
there ever since I have been here, and now let's see if I struck it
fairly."

As if he considered that he had made all necessary apologies for the
shot which had startled Ralph, the boy started towards the barn, and in
another instant he was pointing triumphantly to the offending knot i