The weather the following day turned out unexpectedly warm, and, as Bart, Fenn and Ned elected to remain in camp, and straighten it out somewhat, besides cleaning their guns, and mending some torn clothes, Frank said:
"Guess I'll go off, and try my luck, if you fellows don't mind. Maybe I can bag something."
"Going alone?" asked Bart, looking up from his rifle, which he had taken apart. "If you wait until after dinner I'll go along."
"I don't mind going alone," was Frank's rejoinder, and this was true, for, however good a chum he might be to the other lads, he was rather an odd chap, and frequently went off on solitary strolls. His friends were used to this, and did not mind.
"Aren't you going to take a rifle?" asked Ned. "You might see some big game."
"Guess not. I'm after birds. You fellows have scared off all the deers and bears," and, with a light shotgun over his shoulder Frank set out.
It was lonesome enough in the woods, after leaving the winter camp, to suit almost any one who was fond of solitude, and Frank really rejoiced in the calm and quietness all about him. The only sound was the occasional flutter of a bird in the branches, or the soft, slushing noise made by snow toppling from the trees to the ground.
Frank walked on, his eyes alert for a sign of any game that would restock the camp larder, but, for a long time he saw nothing. He had covered about three miles, and was beginning to think that he would have his trip in vain, when, as he went down into a little gully, where the snow lay rather deeper than on the level, he heard a noise, and saw a movement in the underbrush.
"There's something!" he exclaimed half aloud, and he swung his gun around. "Now let's see what sort of a shot I am."
He advanced cautiously, thinking he might flush a covey of birds. But the sound was not repeated, and, look as he did, Frank could see nothing. With ready gun, and eyes that gazed eagerly forward, he kept on, making as little noise as possible.
Suddenly he heard a yelping bark, followed by a shrill cry of agony, and there was a great commotion in a clump of bushes about a hundred feet directly in front of him. Some animal or animals were evidently threshing about in the underbrush.