very painful, and Sam had slept well. The distance was about four
miles, but there was neither road nor path through the forest.

It was a good time for hunting, for the swamps were frozen and the
foliage was off the trees. The leaves were sodden, and no longer
rustled underfoot. Red and gray squirrels scampered across our
path, but Willis disdained to fire at them. He was loaded for deer;
besides he had but three extra charges. Powder and shot were
usually scarce with us.

At length we heard a deer run, and followed it for an hour or more.
Then John espied a hedgehog in a poplar-tree, and Willis shot it.
The long black-pointed quills were a curiosity to us, but we did
not deem such game worth carrying home.

It was near noon when we reached the clearing, and the sky had
become overcast, but as we crossed the Plancher brook a new
diversion presented itself. The pools were frozen over, but the ice
was so transparent that the bottom was plainly visible, and we
could see trout lying sluggishly in the deep water. Several of them
were fine fish, that looked as if they might weigh a pound or more.

I had heard older boys say that if a gun is fired with the muzzle
held just through the ice of a frozen pool, the concussion will so
stun the fish beneath that they will float up to the under side of
the ice. Willis was afraid that this would burst his gun, but the
trout looked so alluring that at last he ventured the experiment.
John cut a small hole with the axe, and then Willis, lying down,
thrust the muzzle of the gun about six inches beneath the ice.