Part 23 (2/2)

One cold, stormy night, in the latter part of October, Frank and his cousin lay snug in bed, listening to the howling of the wind and the pattering of the rain against the window, and talking over their plans for the future, when, all at once, Frank sat upright in bed, and, seizing Archie's arm with a grip that almost wrung from him a cry of pain, exclaimed,

”Listen! listen!”

And the next moment, clear and loud above the noise of the storm, they heard the trumpet-like notes of a flock of wild geese. They pa.s.sed over the house, and the sound grew fainter as they flew rapidly away.

”My eye!” exclaimed Archie, ”don't I wish it was daylight, and we stood out in front of the house, with our guns all ready!”

”That's a nice thing to wish for,” answered Frank; ”but, if it were daylight, we should not stand any better chance of shooting them than we do here in bed.”

”What's the reason?”

”Why, in the first place, if they went over at all, they would fly so high that it would need a rifle to reach them; and, in the next place, we have not got a rifle. Just wait until morning, and we'll make a scattering among them, if some one don't get the start of us.”

”I suppose we are not the only ones that have heard them.”

”Not by a good deal. I shouldn't wonder if there were a dozen fellows that have made up their minds to have a crack at them in the morning.”

And Frank was right. Many a young hunter, as he lay in bed and heard the wild geese pa.s.sing over, had determined to have the first shot at them, and many a gun was taken down, and cleaned and loaded, in readiness for the morning's hunt.

Wild geese seldom remained longer than two or three days about the village, and then they generally staid in the swamp. This made it difficult for the young hunters to get a shot at them, and only the most active and persevering ever succeeded.

Although for a month the young sportsmen had been expecting them, and had carefully scanned the river every morning, and listened for the welcome ”honk-honk” that should announce the arrival of the wished-for game, this was the first flock that had made its appearance.

”I am afraid,” said Archie, ”that some one will get the start of us.

Let's get up.”

”No; lie still and go to sleep,” said Frank.

”I am afraid we shall oversleep ourselves. I wonder what time it is.”

”I'll soon find out,” said Frank.

And, bounding out on to the floor, he lighted a match, and held it up before the little clock that stood on the mantle-piece.

”It's twelve o'clock,” he continued.

And he crawled back into bed, and in a few moments was almost asleep, when Archie suddenly exclaimed,

”They're coming back!”

And the geese again pa.s.sed over the house, in full cry.

They knew it was the same flock, because they came from toward the river, and that was the same direction in which they had gone but a few moments before.

In a short time they again returned; and, during the quarter of an hour that followed, they pa.s.sed over three times more.

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