CHAPTER XVII.

HUNTING FOR FOOD.

It was Jack who was the first awake on the following morning. He lay for some time without moving, and then unrolled himself from his blanket and sprang up, just as Harry opened his eyes with a start.

“Hullo, Jack! up already?”

“I just got up, Harry. I guess it’s rather late.” Jack looked at his watch. “Great guns! quarter to nine! Rouse up, boys, day has broke, and more!” he cried.

Soon every one in the hut was awake, and one after another they arose. Several had a light sprinkling of snow on their blankets, but the little that had sifted in had done no harm.

“We’ll fix that to-day so not a spoonful shall come in hereafter,” said Jack.

Pickles was the first to attempt to step outside. He uttered an exclamation of comical dismay.

“By golly! de snow’s dun covered up de fiah most!” he cried.

The colored youth was right. All about the fire, and also the hut, the soft covering of white lay to the depth of a foot and a half, and the cleared spot where the flickering embers lay had been narrowed down to a tiny circle.

“We’ll clear the snow away between the hut and the fire first,” said Harry. “Pickles, you can start to get breakfast.”

“Dat’s so, but what is we gwine to hab dis mornin’?” questioned the colored youth, soberly.

“We must hunt up our breakfast,” said Boxy.

“Let’s try to get a squirrel or two,” suggested Andy. “I saw a hole on one of the trees yesterday, close to where we built the first fire.”

“All right; you and Boxy take the guns and see what you can scare up,” replied his brother. “Harry and I will go for rabbits, birds or whatever we can find.”

Leaving Pickles to heap more brush and wood on the fire and set the water to boiling for coffee, the four boys split into two parties and set off.

“We won’t be able to do much in this deep snow,” observed Harry to Jack, as the two pushed up the stream. “There won’t be much stirring.”

“We might run across a hungry fox,” returned his companion. “They come out if they are hungry enough.”

“Are they good to eat?”

“Some say they are. I have never tried them, but I would eat fox meat in preference to starving, every time.”

“Oh, so would I. But we are not starving yet.”

“No, but there is no telling what may happen. It is true it has stopped snowing, but there is no telling how soon it may start up again.”

“Well, I move we lay in as much as we can to-day,” said Harry, after a pause. “We’ll feel safer if we have something in the larder to fall back on. Besides, I get tired of crackers, cheese and smoked beef.”

Walking through the snow was by no means an easy matter, and the two boys had not gone far when they found the exercise beginning to tell on them.

Suddenly Jack touched Harry on the arm and motioned him to be silent. Both boys came to a halt, and the elder pointed over to his left.

For fully ten seconds nothing was to be seen. Then from over a fallen log appeared a pair of long gray ears, followed by the head and body of a fat bunny.

Bang! went Jack’s gun, and the old fellow leaped up in the air, ran a few steps and then fell dead.

“Hurrah! you’ve the first one!” cried Harry, as both ran forward. “My! but he’s a whopper!” he added, as he took up the prize by the hind legs.

“Yes, he’ll do very well,” returned Jack, with a smile of pardonable pride. “A few more like this and----”

He broke off short. The discharge of the gun and their approach had started up two more rabbits less than a rod off. They were scampering through the snow at top speed.

Harry took steady aim and fired. One of the bunnies was killed and the other seriously injured.

“After him or he’ll get away!” yelled Jack, referring to the wounded rabbit, which was doing its best to drag itself out of sight in some brushwood.

With a bound Harry ran forward and caught the animal when it was still a yard from cover. A blow from the gunstock settled its career forever.

“That beats me,” said Jack. “Three rabbits is not bad. Shall we go back with them?”

“We seem to have struck a good spot. Let us get what we can before the bunnies skip elsewhere.”

So they went on, around the brushwood, and in among the trees in the vicinity. At first they saw nothing, but soon scared up three rabbits in a bunch.

Bang! bang! went Jack’s and Harry’s guns simultaneously, and two more rabbits were added to their list. The third animal escaped unharmed.

“That makes five,” said Jack. “We are doing famously, to my way of thinking.”

“Let us continue,” returned Harry, with a good deal of excitement.

This was outing sport and no mistake.

So they went on, but no more rabbits appeared, nor did any other animals put in sight. They bagged half-a-dozen small birds, however, and then, with their game-bags well filled, returned to the camp.

Andy and Boxy had just arrived. Each of them had shot a squirrel, and Andy had killed a third with a stick of wood. They had also secured nearly two quarts of hickory nuts from one of the squirrel’s nests.

“Now we are fixed for several days,” declared Jack. “Let us save the rabbits and have a little squirrel on toast for breakfast.”

“That’s it,” laughed Boxy. “Think of it, squirrel on toast! Delmonico’s an’t in it, eh?” and every one joined in the laugh.

Pickles had not been idle. Water was boiling over the fire, and exactly five big potatoes--portion of the small mess brought along--were roasting in the ashes beneath. It was not long before the smell of newly made coffee and broiling squirrel filled the air.

A portion of the fire was dragged directly in front of the entrance to the hut, making the interior as warm as the kitchen of a house, and then the five sat down to a well-earned breakfast and dinner combined. That they enjoyed every mouthful goes without saying.

“Now, what’s the programme for to-day?” questioned Boxy, when he was about full.

“At first let us give Pickles a chance to clean up, while we finish work on the hut and build a regular fireplace,” returned Harry.

“That’s it,” added Jack. “Pickles can also tend to the animals we have killed, so they won’t spoil. The hut must be put into shape, so that it will stand the wind and any storm that may come along.”

“I don’t think we’ll get any more snow,” said Andy, but the others shook their heads.

It was no easy matter to start work in the deep snow which lay on all sides of the hut, but they went at it with a will, Boxy whistling cheerfully, and Pickles singing merrily as he washed the dishes and pots.

More poles and brush were cut, and Jack, who had seen the thing done by hunters along the coast, showed how the brush could be twisted, one branch into another, until the sides of the hut were as tight as a wicker basket. They were braced by the poles, and then banked up on the outside, first by more brush and leaves, and then by snow.

After the sides were finished, the roof was overhauled and made much tighter than before. The number of poles on the top were increased, until all was as solid as a city house.

“Now we’ve got a hut worth living in,” cried Harry, as he surveyed the work done. “That will stay there for several seasons if not torn down by human hands.”

“It’s a pity we are not going to stay longer,” grumbled Boxy. “Three days gone already!”

“But three days are not two weeks,” said Andy, cheerfully.

The hut finished, they tackled the fireplace.

A dozen flat stones were sought for and found, and Jack showed them how a regular oven could be constructed. The uprights and the cross pole which had been used previously were allowed to remain, with the pot suspended over them, full of water.

“It’s a good thing to have hot water any time you want it,” observed Andy, and the others agreed with him.

By this time it was two o’clock, and they lost no time in preparing to go on the hunt.

“How Pete Sully and the others would envy us if they knew how nicely we were situated,” observed Boxy.

“I’ll bet they were mad when we left them to shift for themselves on the ice,” put in Andy. “We’ll have an account to settle with them when we get home.”

“That’s so, but I’m not going to worry,” returned Harry. “Come on, fellows, let us see what we can start up between now and sundown.”

And all together they started off on a hunt that was to be one of the most perilous of the whole outing.