ger of their object in going to the Sawback Hills.

"Ha! Vat is dat you say?" he exclaimed, with well-feigned surprise;
"von yoong man carried avay by Ridskins. I saw'd dem! Did pass dem not
longe ago. T'ree mans carry von man. I t'ink him a sick comrade, but
now I reklect hims face vas vhitish."

"Could ye guide us to the place where ye met them?" asked Bevan,
quickly.

The botanist did not reply at once, but seemed to consider.

"Vell, I has not moche time to spare; but come, I has pity for you, an'
don't mind if I goes out of de vay to help you. I vill go back to the
Sawbuk Hills so far as need be."

"Thank 'ee kindly," returned Bevan, who possessed a grateful spirit;
"I'll think better of yer grass-gatherin' after this, though it does
puzzle me awful to make out what's the use ye put it to. If you kep'
tame rabbits, now, I could understand it, but to carry it about in a
green box an' go squeezin' it between the leaves o' books, as I've seed
some of 'ee do, seems to me the most outrageous--"

"Ha, ha!" interrupted the botanist, with a loud laugh; "you is not the
first what t'ink hims nonsense. But you mus' know dere be moche sense
in it,"--(he looked very grave and wise here)--"very moche. First, ye
finds him; den ye squeezes an' dries him; den ye sticks him in von book,
an' names him; den ye talks about him; oh! dere is moche use in him,
very moche!"

"Well, but arter you've found, an' squeezed, an' dried, an' stuck, an'
named, an' talked about him," repeated Paul, with a slight look of
contempt, "what the better are ye for it all?"

"Vy, ve is moche de better," returned the botanist, "for den ve tries to
find out all about him. Ve magnifies him, an' writes vat ve zee about
him, an' compares him vid oders of de same family, an' boils, an' stews,
an' fries, an' melts, an' dissolves, an' mixes him, till ve gits
somet'ing out of him."

"It's little I'd expect to git out of him after tratin' him so badly,"
remarked Flinders, whose hunger was gradually giving way before the
influence of venison steaks.

"True, me frund," returned the stranger, "it is ver' leetil ve gits; but
den dat leetil is ver' goot--valooable you calls it."

"Humph!" ejaculated Bevan, with an air that betokened doubt. Flinders
and Fred said nothing, but the latter felt more than ever inclined to
believe that their guest was a deceiver, and resolved to watch him
narrowly. On his part, the stranger seemed to perceive that Fred