But is there any hunting around here ?" "Plenty of it." "Well," continued Charles, "I walked all over the woods this morning, and couldn't find any thing." "It is not the season for hunting now," said George; "but in the fall there are lots of ducks, pigeons, squirrels, and turkeys, and in the winter the woods are full of minks, and now and then a bear or deer; and the swamps are just the places to kill muskrats." "I'd just like to go hunting with some of you.

I'll bet I can kill more game in a day than any one in the village." The boys made no reply to this confident assertion, for the fact was that they were too full of laughter to trust themselves to speak.
"I'll bet you haven't got any thing in the village that can come up to this," continued Charles; and as he spoke he raised a light, beautifully-finished rifle from the bottom of the boat, and held it up to the admiring gaze of the boys.
"That is a beauty," said Harry, who wished to continue the conversation as long as possible, in order to hear some more of Charles's "large stories." "How far will it shoot ?" "It cost me a hundred dollars," answered Charles, "and I've killed bears and deer with it, many a time, as far as across this river here." Charles did not hesitate to say this, for he was talking only to "simple-minded country boys," as he called them, and he supposed he could say what he pleased and they would believe it.

His auditors, who before had been hardly able to contain themselves, were now almost bursting with laughter.

Frank and George, however, managed to draw on a sober face, while Harry turned away his head and stuffed his handkerchief into his mouth.
"I tell you," continued Charles, not noticing the condition his hearers were in, "I've seen some pretty tough times in my life.

Once, when I was hunting in the Adirondack Mountains, in the northern part of Michigan, I was attacked by Indians, and came very near being captured, and the way I fought was a caution to white folks.