"O, that's all understood. Now, before you begin work on those traps
we want you to help us one day. We've had a good deal of excitement
and some good luck since we last saw you. We have recovered my canoe,
which somebody stole from me, and we have found out that there is a
bear living on Bruin's Island."

"He must be a monster, too, for such growls I never heard before,"
said Bert.

"Didn't you see him?" asked David.

"No. We landed to explore the island, and while we were going through
the cane he growled at us, and we took the hint and left. We didn't
have a single load of heavy shot with us. We're going up there
to-morrow, and we want you to go with us. We'll go fixed for him,
too. We'll have a couple of good dogs with us; I'll take my rifle;
Bert will take father's heavy gun; and we'd like to have you take
your single-barrel. If he gets a bullet and three loads of buckshot
in his head, he'll not growl at us any more. If we don't get a chance
to shoot him, we'll build a trap and catch him alive the next time he
comes to the island. Will you go?"

Of course David would go. He would have gone anywhere that Don told
him to go. He promised to be at the barn at an early hour the next
morning, and then showed a desire to leave the shop; so Don unlocked
the door, and David hurried out and turned his face toward the
landing. He had money now, and that grocery bill should not trouble
him any longer.

"If there ever was a lucky boy in the world I am the one," thought