"I've got him! Come and see! He's a bouncer," roared Tommy, from the berry
bushes some way off.

Billy scrambled out, and went as fast as his wet boots would let him, to
see what the prize was. He found Tommy dancing wildly round a fat gray
animal, who was fighting to get his paws out of the trap, and making a
queer noise as he struggled about.

"What is it?" asked Billy, getting behind a tree as fast as possible, for
the thing looked fierce, and he was very timid.

"A raccoon, I guess, or a big woodchuck. Won't his fur make a fine cap? I
guess the other fellows will wish they'd come with us." said Tommy,
prancing to and fro, without the least idea what to do with the creature.

"He'll bite. We'd better run away and wait till he's dead," said Billy.

"Wish he'd got his head in, then I could carry him off; but he does look
savage, so we'll have to leave him awhile, and get him when we come back.
But he's a real beauty." And Tommy looked proudly at the bunch of gray fur
scuffling in the sand.

"Can we ever eat him?" asked hungry Billy, ready for a fried crocodile if
he could get it.

"If he's a raccoon, we can; but I don't know about woodchucks. The fellows
in my books don't seem to have caught any. He's nice and fat; we might try
him when he's dead," said Tommy, who cared more for the skin to show than
the best meal ever cooked.