"I hope I didn't shoot in your direction, young man; did I?"
"No—no, sir," replied the youthful inventor, who had hardly recovered his composure. "I heard your gun, and I imagined"
"Did you think you had been shot? You must have a very vivid imagination, for I fired in the air."
"No, I didn't exactly think that," replied Tom, "but I just had an encounter with an ugly tramp, and I feared he might be using me for a target."
"Is that so. I hadn't noticed any tramps around here, and I've been in these woods nearly all day. Did he harm you?"
"No, not me, but my motor-cycle," and the lad explained.
"Pshaw! That's too bad!" exclaimed the hunter. "I wish I could supply you with a bit of wire, but I haven't any. I'm just walking about, trying my new gun."
"I shouldn't think you'd find anything to shoot this time of year," remarked Tom.
"I don't expect to," answered the hunter, who had introduced himself as Theodore Duncan. "But I have just purchased a new gun, and I wanted to try it. I expect to do considerable hunting this fall, and so I'm getting ready for it."
