"Are you fond of hunting?"

"Yes, indeed; I spend all my spare time in the woods, when I am at home."

This was the very man, of all others, that Frank would have chosen for a
companion, and he informed Woods that he also was very fond of rural
sports. They seated themselves on the boiler door railing, and each
related some of his hunting and fishing adventures, and, finally, Woods
proposed that they should go over the river into Kentucky, on the
following morning, on a squirrel hunt. Frank, of course, readily agreed to
this. He immediately started in search of his cousin and Simpson, and
informed them of the proposed excursion. When he returned to the place
where he had left Woods, he found him with a musket on his shoulder, and a
cartridge-box buckled about his waist, pacing up and down the deck.

"I'm on watch, you see," he said, as Frank came up, "You will go on at
midnight; so you had better go and turn in. If we go hunting to-morrow, we
must start by four o'clock at least, for we have a good way to walk before
we reach the hunting-ground. Good night." And Woods, settling his musket
more firmly on his shoulder, continued his beat, while Frank sought his
hammock.

About midnight he was awakened by a hand laid on his shoulder, when,
starting up, he found one of the corporals standing beside his hammock
holding a lantern in his hand.

"Is your name Nelson?" he inquired.

Frank answered in the affirmative, and the corporal continued: