s morning," said Archie, again. "Let's get up."

"What's the use? It will be five long hours before it will be light
enough to hunt them up; and we might as well go to sleep."

"I'm afraid we shall sleep too long," said Archie, again, "and that
some one will beat us."

"No fear of that," answered Frank; "I'll wake you up at three
o'clock."

And he turned over and arranged his pillow, and in a few moments was
fast asleep. But Archie was so excited that he found it difficult even
to lie still; and he lay awake almost two hours, thinking of the sport
they should have in the morning, and at last dropped into an unquiet
slumber.

It seemed to him that he had hardly closed his eyes, when a strong
hand was laid on his shoulder, and a voice said, in his ear,

"Wake up here; it's three o'clock."

He did not need a second call, but was out on the floor in an instant.

It was still storming. The wind moaned and whistled through the
branches of the trees around the cottage, and sent the big drops of
rain rattling against the window. It was a wild time to go hunting,
and some boys would have preferred tumbling back into bed again. But
Frank and his cousin had made up their minds that if any one got a
shot at the geese, they were to be the ones.

As soon as they were dressed, Frank led the way into the kitchen, and,
while he was lighting a fire, Archie brought out of the pantry a pan
of milk, two spoons and bowls, and a loaf of bread. He was so
impatient to "get a crack at the geese," as he said, that, although he
was very fond of bread and milk, he could scarcely eat at all.

"I'm afraid some one will get the start of us," he exclaimed, noticing
that his cousin, instead of being in a hurry, was taking matters very
coolly.

"What if they do?" answered Frank, deliberately refilling his bowl
from the pan. "We shall stand just as good a chance as they do. It
will not be daylight these two hours. It's as dark as pitch, and all
we can do is to go up to the swamp, and get under a tree, and wait
until it is light enough to see where our geese are."

As soon as they had finished their breakfast, they brought out their
guns, and began to prepare for the hunt. Extra charges were put in
each barrel; and, while they were drawing on their rubber coats,
Archie said,

"We had better leave my dogs at home, hadn't we? Lightfoot would make
too much noise, and Sport, although he would keep still enough, would
be of no use to us, for he