Page:The Outdoor Chums.djvu/187

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
SURPRISING TRAPPER JESSE
173

giving Frank a sly wink with one eye, as if to inform him that he did not really mean all he said.

"You never heard the first of it yet, for I didn't even have a single chance to shoot it off," complained the other.

"For which all the little birds and chipmunks are rejoicing, for they have had a chance to live. Besides, a gun like that is dangerous to the community, I think. If it ever started to going I believe it would spit out fire without any help from you, or any one else. But, for goodness' sake, change the subject. I'm sleepy," declared Jerry, curling up on a blanket by the fire.

"All of us are, I reckon. You see we were having a little circus of our own at the time this happened to you," remarked Frank.

"Yes," exclaimed Bluff, "don't you think you're the only pebble on the beach, Jerry."

"Why, what happened?" demanded the other, looking up.

"Why, what do you think we've got all those things on the bushes drying out for? Yes, one of the tents blew away in the middle of the storm. I think it must have been an hour or two before midnight, when the big gust came that tore it loose. We were all four of us under it, and there was some tall scurrying just then, believe me."