THE TWO BOYS 27 



Will he go? If any boy reads these lines, let him 

 answer. Gun over shoulder, and heart filled with 

 infinite happiness, the boy trudges along the road, 

 through the fields, and into the woods on the hill- 

 side, pouring forth a steady flow of talk. When 

 the big beech, which the grandfather is turning 

 into fire-wood, is reached, a council of war is held. 

 Directions are given as to the proper way of hand- 

 ling a gun, and especially this one. " You'll have 

 to hold the hammer back with your thumb, and 

 when you have taken good aim, let go." Over and 

 over again it is impressed upon the boy that under 

 no circumstances is he to point the muzzle of the 

 gun toward him. 



While instructions are going on, a harsh call 

 sounds from among the distant trees. The boy 

 does not need to be told that it is the cry of the 

 grey-squirrel, and with all the speed that caution 

 will permit he hurries in the direction of the hidden 

 challenger. Every now and then he stops to await 

 a renewal of the cry, and then on again. Now 

 the call is very near, almost directly overhead. 

 Evidently it comes from somewhere high up in that 

 great maple. For moments that seem hours he 

 peers here and there among the leafless branches. 

 At last the flirt of a grey tail catches his eye, and 

 there, stretched along a limb near the top of the 

 trees, lies the quarry. Up goes the long-barrelled 

 gun, but the muzzle refuses to hold still. It de- 

 scribes circles and rectangles and zigzags, but per- 



