David ran across the garden to join the brothers, and found that they were all ready to start on the hunt they had planned the day before.

A well-filled basket, which David knew contained a substantial lunch, stood on the wharf, and near it lay the General's heavy double-barrel gun, which Bert had borrowed for the occasion, knowing that it would throw buck-shot with more force than his light bird gun.

Bert was unfastening the canoe, and Don stood close by, with his trusty rifle in one hand and an axe in the other.

Two other axes lay near the lunch basket, and a couple of Don's best hounds stood as close to the edge of the wharf as they could get, wagging their tails vigorously and whining with impatience.
These hounds were large and powerful animals, and their courage had been tested in more than one desperate bear fight.

If they had been with their master when he visited the island the day before, something disagreeable might have happened.