Part 8 (2/2)
”'Twill no be far, in my opinion,” confessed Donald ”'Tis no over plain”
But with much care and patience the boys were able to follow the track for a considerable distance, losing it every now and then and picking it up again, Rand being the quickest and Donald thea little o now?” asked Jack after a while, when they had lost it and were unable to pick it up again
”That's doing very well for a beginning,” commended the colonel
”They went off here, I think to avoid the house, and we are alht the in the woods It was one-story high and about sixteen feet square, with a small kitchen in the back It was provided with two doors, numerous s, and had a small porch in front It was ceiled inside and scantily furnished with a few chairs, a couple of tables and a couch, but the walls were ornamented with the heads of deer and elk, as well as the skins of smaller animals, and the floor was covered with bear and panther skins Over the big fireplace hung a shotgun with a couple of rifles, and several Indian bows stood in one corner
CHAPTER VIII
TALKING IT OVER
”I thought you didn't use a stove,” reht of the colonel's well-appointed kitchen
”Why not?” asked the colonel, sround from choice, when I have a comfortable bed”
”But, you said--” continued Jack
”This is a pero on a s withwithout, as part of the day's task”
”That's a grand pair of horns on that elk's head,” ad at the trophies of the chase that hung on the walls
”Isn't there a story that goes with that?”
”Not much of a story,” replied the colonel ”It was killed on a trip I made up in the Canadian Northwest, and it was a narrow escape for me, too It was killed by an arrow from one of those bows there”
”An arrow!” exclaimed Rand ”I didn't know that an elk could be killed with an arrow”
”An arrow is as deadly as a bullet at short range,” replied the colonel ”You have read of the English archers and their fa-bows, haven't you?”
”And Robin Hood,” put in Pepper
”Robin Hood, of course,” continued the colonel ”The Indians were dangerous foes, too, even when they had nothing but their bows and arrows”
”I wonder if I could learn to shoot with one of the back one of the bows, a feat that required all of his strength ”Say, boys, I've got an idea”
”Hold fast to it,” counseled Donald ”You anize an Indian patrol, and we can carry bows and arrows”
”Itabout,” admitted Donald
”That's anted to talk to you about, colonel,” said Jack, ”but I am afraid it's too late to take the matter up to-day”