"Can you? I never used "em. Thought they were big for rabbits."
He was glad to know his gun was correctly loaded, however; and he imitated Corry in putting on the caps for both barrels, as if he had served a long apprenticeship at that very business.
"We haven"t reached the swamp yet, have we?"
"No, but we have a"most. It"s a great place for rabbits, when you get there. Halloo! Ponto"s started one! Come on, Port!"
They did not really need to stir a foot, for the swift little animal the dog had disturbed from his seat among the bushes was running his best right toward them.
"There he is!" shouted Porter.
"Try him, Port."
"No, you try him."
Corry"s gun was at his shoulder, and in another second the bright flash leaped from the muzzle.
"Did you hit him? He didn"t stop running: he kept right on."
"Missed him, I guess. Too many trees, and it was a pretty long shot."
"Why, it didn"t seem far."
"Didn"t it? That"s "cause it was over the snow: it was more"n ten rods.
Hark! hear Ponto!"
The old dog was barking as if for dear life, and the boys ran as fast as the snow would let them. They had not far to go before they could see Ponto dancing around the foot of a huge beech-tree.
"If he hasn"t treed him!"
"Treed a rabbit! Why, do you mean they can climb?"
"Climb! Rabbits climb! I guess not. But that tree"s hollow. See that hole at the bottom? The rabbit"s in there, sure."
"Can we get him?"
"We"ll try, but it won"t pay if it takes too long,--just one rabbit."
Porter Hudson had a feeling that it would be worth almost any thing in the world to catch that rabbit. He hardly knew how to go to work for it; but he felt very warm indeed while his cousin stooped down and poked his arm deeper and deeper into the hole in the tree. It did not go down, but up; and it was a pretty big one at its outer opening.
"Is it a hollow tree, Corry?"
"Guess not, only a little way up."
"Can you feel him?"
"Arm isn"t long enough."
Ponto whimpered, very much as if he understood what his master was saying. That was probably not the first runaway game which had disappointed him by getting into a den of safety of one kind or another.
"Hey, Port! Here he comes!"
"Got him, have you?"
"There he is."
Corry withdrew his arm as he spoke, and held up in triumph a very large, fat, white rabbit.
"You did reach him."
"No, I didn"t. Some of my shot had hit him, and he came down the hole of his own weight. Don"t you see? They didn"t strike him in the right place to tumble him right over: he could run."
"Poor fellow!" said Porter: "he won"t run any more now."
It was of small use to pity that rabbit, when the one thought uppermost in his mind was that he could not go home happy unless he could carry with him another of the same sort, and of his own shooting.
Corry loaded his gun again, and on they went; but pretty soon he remarked,--
"We"re in the swamp now, Port."
"I don"t see any swamp: it"s all trees and bushes and snow."
"That"s so, but there"s ice under the snow in some places. You can"t get through here at all in the spring, and hardly in summer. It"s a great place for rabbits."
Ponto was doubtless aware of that fact, for he was dashing to and fro most industriously.
There were plenty of little tracks on the snow, as the boys could now plainly see; but they crossed each other in all directions, after a manner that puzzled Porter Hudson exceedingly.
"How will he find out which one of them he"d better follow up?"
"Wait, Port: you"ll see."
Porter was taking his first lesson as a sportsman, and was peering anxiously behind trees and in among the nearest bushes. Suddenly he saw something, or thought he saw it, which made him hold his breath and tremblingly lift his gun.
"Can that be a real rabbit," he thought, "sitting there so still?"
He did not utter a loud word; and the first Corry heard about it was from both barrels of his cousin"s gun, fired in quick succession. Bang, bang! they went.
"What is it, Port?"
"I"ve got him! I"ve got him!"
He was bounding away across the snow, and disappeared among some thick hazel-bushes. A moment more, and he was out again, with a rabbit in his hand every ounce as big as the one Corry had killed.
"First-rate, Port! Was he running?"
"No, he was sitting still, and listening for something."