The others were willing, and half of the afternoon was spent by the four hunters in a locality that was new to them. One fox was sighted, and Jack Ness shot the animal in the hind quarters, and then Sam finished him by a shot in the side.
"Well, that makes one fox less anyway," said the hired man.
They kept on, and brought down two rabbits and a wild turkey. By this time they were pretty well tired out, and Tom suggested that they start for home.
"It's a long tramp," he said, "and by the time we get back I guess we'll all be ready to rest."
"As for that, I am ready to rest now," said Sam. "Tramping through the snow is no easy task."
"Especially if a fellow's legs aren't very long," returned Dick, with a grin.
"Well, mine are as long as they ought to be," came from Sam, promptly. "They reach to the ground, and yours don't reach any further," and then there was a general laugh, Jack Ness guffawing loudly.
The hired man said he knew of a short cut to the farm, and they followed him to something of a path through the woods and then out on a trail made years before by charcoal burners. Soon they came in sight of a cabin, from the chimney of which the smoke was curling.
