"Seems not; films are good enough for him. Well, we managed to get all the things under the shelter of the other tent, and shivered for some hours. Finally, after the storm pa.s.sed, and it began to get very cold, we started a fire and waited to welcome the rosy dawn."

"Don't get poetic, Frank. I'm really too dead for sleep to appreciate it now. Wake me up, fellows, when lunch is ready, will you?" and, so speaking, Jerry curled up again, this time in earnest.

The others amused themselves the balance of the morning in various ways.

Bluff declared that he believed he would stay in camp while the others went off. Frank looked at him curiously as if wondering what had struck him, for he considered that the trip was well worth taking, if only to see the husky-looking wild dogs Jerry had met and slain.

He could remember having heard one or two persons speaking about the pack that was giving the farmers so much trouble. To think that, after all, their comrade had been the one to relieve the situation, was pleasant indeed.

They aroused Jerry when Uncle Toby announced that lunch was ready. The old man seemed to be kept pretty busy preparing meals for all stragglers happening in; but that part of the business pleased him. The only thing he protested against was being left alone in camp. There were too many visitors at such times to suit him.

First had come the wildcat, and then the wild man. Uncle Toby had therefore heard Bluff's announcement that he intended remaining behind when the others went off, with particular pleasure and much relief.

Immediately afterwards the three lads started out. Jerry seemed much refreshed by his nap, and was as lively as either of his comrades.

A straight line was kept for the shack of the old trapper, and when they finally reached the place it was to find Jesse just starting out.

"Why, h.e.l.lo, boys, glad to see ye," he said, shaking hands all around, gravely. "And I'll be hanged, if thar ain't Jerry, big as life. I was gettin' uneasy about ye, lad, an' just startin' to follow up your route through the big timber. Ye see, I kinder thought ye might a-fallen foul o' them fierce wild dogs I told ye about."

Both Frank and Will laughed.

"Well, he did all right, just that same thing. And we're on our way now to see where he left the critters," declared Will.

"Left 'em--looky here, ye don't mean to tell me--it can't be possible now he fit that hull pack, an' got out o' it alive?" exclaimed the trapper.

Then Jerry, with a laugh, dangled the four tails before his startled eyes.

CHAPTER XX

PROVING HIS CLAIM

"Jerusalem! I surely believes he's gone an' done it!" exclaimed old Jesse Wilc.o.x.

Frank and Will burst out into a laugh.

"Do you recognize these tails then, trapper?" asked the former; "because we even accused Jerry of trying to palm off some subst.i.tute on us for the originals?"

"Oh! them there is original tails all right. How did ye do it, youngster?

An' if they ever was fierce dogs, that pack filled the bill. I'd kinder hated to be up agin 'em myself; an' you on'y a boy!"

"A boy armed with a double-barreled shotgun loaded with buck is able to do just as much as a man, I suppose. I got my deer, too, Jesse, thanks to the directions you gave me. It was a bully old time all around," said Jerry, contentedly.

"Well, I should smile to mention it. Ye take the cake, Jerry. An' now ye want me to lead ye thar, I s'pose. Can ye describe the place well enough for me to recognize it?" asked the trapper.

"Possibly I can. Let's see, I remember that there was a queer-looking oak standing close by--three trees in one, as though sprouts had grown up when the parent trunk was smashed by lightning long ago. Remember having seen anything like that in your trips through the big timber, Jesse?"

asked the other, seriously.

The trapper smiled.

"Why, it's right easy. I know that place as well as I do my own dooryard.

Shot a stag down by them three oaks myself ten years ago come Christmas.

So that's whar ye met up with the dog pack, was it? All right, if so be ye are ready, we kin start right off," he remarked eagerly.

All of the others were equally anxious to proceed, Jerry because he wished to prove his hunting triumphs, and his chums to see the evidence of his valor. Will, no doubt, still hoped to induce the victor to attempt some sort of running stunt in connection with the tree and the dead dogs, that would form the basis of a striking picture.

Going in a bee line, as led by the sagacious trapper, who knew the woods like a book, the little company did not spend more than an hour on the way.

"Thar's yer three oaks, son; now tell us jest whar ye was when ye shot that deer."

As he spoke, Jesse pointed ahead. All of them could easily see the landmark now.

"It was an old tree, and there ought to be broken branches underneath.

Yes, if you look over yonder you'll see it. And isn't there something that looks yellow from here?" asked Jerry, proudly.

"Just what! The dog story was founded on solid facts, then!" exclaimed Frank, hurrying forward, with the others at his heels.

"It was a true tale," chimed in Will, from the rear.

They found the dogs just as Jerry had left them. The big yellow brute lay under the rotten tree, with his head mangled from the discharge of the gun at close quarters; the dingy white one farther off, and presently Jerry led them to where he had dispatched the others.

"And there's my package of vension, all right, hanging up yonder. I was afraid some prowling lynx might get away with it," he remarked, composedly; while his two admiring chums were whacking him on the back admiringly, and insisting on proudly shaking hands with him over and over again.

"Now, to make a clean sweep, come with me and I'll show you where I pulled Andy out from under the fallen tree," he said.

Frank laughed and would have protested, declaring that he stood ready to believe anything Jerry might say after this; but the other would not let him hold back.

"I demand that you investigate. See, here's where my charge tore up the ground when I fired through the rotten wood to scare the bear away. And you can see the plain mark of claws on the old tree-trunk. Is it so, fellows?" he asked.

"Without the least doubt. No Ananias here, that's sure," declared Frank.

"All right. Now walk this way only a short distance. I heard the yells, you see, above the racket of the storm, and that told me the one who shouted must be near by. There's the fallen tree. Think what a narrow escape Andy had from being crushed to death."

"And it's easy to see where you dragged him out. Why, here are the prints of his shoes in the mud as plain as type," remarked Frank.

"Where?" asked Will, showing sudden interest; and then after getting down to look at short range he laughed, saying: "Everything is just as Jerry says. I know it was Andy he pulled out from under this tree."

"How do you know?" demanded the party in question, curiously.

"Why, you see it was Andy Lasher who knocked Bluff off that log into the lake. We guessed it at the time, and he afterwards said as much to Jerry here. Well, we found his footprints, and you see one of his shoes had a queer patch on the sole, a sort of triangle. Here it is, as big as life!"

He pointed triumphantly downward. Frank fairly shouted, and even Jerry grinned.

"Talk about your great detectives! Why, they ain't in the same cla.s.s as our chum here. You see, fellows, truth will out. What more proof do you want?" demanded Jerry.

"Everything has been proven. You are the hero of the hunt, Jerry. I pa.s.s up my claim when you're around. And so Andy means to let us alone, does he? Can he speak for his whole crowd, too?" queried Frank.