"Never go into the
mountains without your gun. Of course, you may have no use for it.
Chances are that you won't. But it's a mighty wise thing to have a good
rifle along wherever you go in this country. And if you need it at all,
you'll need it mighty bad and mighty quick."
So that when the boys left the house a half hour later, they took with
them not only all that was necessary to lure the finny prey from their
lurking places, but each as well carried on his shoulder a Winchester
repeating rifle and around his waist a well-stored cartridge belt.
Mr. Melton gave them explicit directions as to the route they were to
follow to find the lake, which lay in the hollow of a broad plateau about
five miles back in the mountains.
"You'll find a canoe hidden in the bushes near a big clump of trees on
the east shore," he said. "That is, if nobody has swiped it. But I
covered it up pretty well the last time I was there, and I guess it's
safe enough. If not, you'll have to take your chance in fishing from the
shore. There's an island a little way out in the lake, and you'll find
the pike thick around there if you can get out to it.
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