Page:The Outdoor Chums.djvu/113

Rh "I made a silly fool of myself, I know now, and it was mighty fine in you fellows coming to pull me out of the hole I dropped into. If that 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.