And the Great Woodpecker scowled ferociously at Guy, who was vainly searching his face for a clue, not sure but what this whole thing was some subtle mockery.  But Yan had been on the lookout for this.  Sam’s face throughout had shown nothing but real and growing interest.  The good sense of this last suggestion was evident, and the result was an expedition was formed at once for Downey’s Dump, a little town five miles away, where the railroad crossed a long bog on the Skagbog River.  Here Downey, the contractor, had carried the railroad dump across a supposed bottomless morass and by good luck had soon made a bottom and in consequence a small fortune, with which he built a hotel, and was now the great man of the town for which he had done so much.

“Guess we’ll leave the Third War Chief in charge of camp,” said Sam, “an’ I think we ought to go disguised as Whites.”

“You mean to go back to the Settlement and join the Whites?”

“Yep, an’ take a Horse an’ buggy, too.  It’s five miles.”

That was a jarring note.  Yan’s imagination had pictured a foot expedition through the woods, but this was more sensible, so he yielded.

They went to the house to report and had a loving reception from the mother and little Minnie.  The men were away.  The boys quickly harnessed a Horse and, charged also with some commissions from the mother, they drove to Downey’s Dump.

On arriving they went first to the livery-stable to put up the horse, then to the store, where Sam delivered his mother’s orders, and having made sure that Yan had pencil, paper and rubber, they went into Downey’s.  Yan’s feelings were much like those of a country boy going for the first time to a circus—­now he is really to see the things he has dreamed of so long; now all heaven is his.

And, curiously enough, he was not disappointed.  Downey was a rough, vigorous business man.  He took no notice of the boys beyond a brief “Morning, Sam,” till he saw that Yan was making very fair sketches.  All the world loves an artist, and now there was danger of too much assistance.

The cases could not be opened, but were swung around and shades raised to give the best light.  Yan went at once to the bird he had “far-sketched” on the pond.  To his surprise, it was a female Wood-duck.  He put in the whole afternoon drawing those Ducks, male and female, and as Downey had more than fifty specimens Yan felt like Aladdin in the Fairy Garden—­overpowered with abundance of treasure.  The birds were fairly well labelled with the popular names, and Yan brought away a lot of sketches, which made him very happy.  These he afterward carefully finished and put together in a Duck Chart that solved many of his riddles about the Common Duck.

* * * * *

    [Illustration:  The Fish-Ducks, Sawbills, or Mergansers]

    [Illustration:  The River Ducks]

    (See description below.)