ger nodded, and his eyes, which seemed to
be always laughing, smiled pleasantly. But he was deeply tanned, and,
from the waist up, held himself like a soldier, so, at once, Jimmie
mistrusted him. Early the next morning Jimmie met him again. It had not
been raining, but the clothes of the young man were damp. Jimmie guessed
that while the dew was still on the leaves the young man had been
forcing his way through underbrush. The stranger must have remembered
Jimmie, for he laughed and exclaimed:

"Ah, my friend with the dinner-pail! It's luck you haven't got it now,
or I'd hold you up. I'm starving!"

Jimmie smiled in sympathy. "It's early to be hungry," said Jimmie; "when
did you have your breakfast?"

"I didn't," laughed the young man. "I went out to walk up an appetite,
and I lost myself. But I haven't lost my appetite. Which is the shortest
way back to Bedford?"

"The first road to your right," said Jimmie.

"Is it far?" asked the stranger anxiously. That he was very hungry was
evident.

"It's a half-hour's walk," said Jimmie.

"If I live that long," corrected the young man; and stepped out briskly.

Jimmie knew that within a hundred yards a turn in the road would shut
him from sight. So, he gave the stranger time to walk that distance, and
then, diving into the wood that lined the road, "stalked" him. From
behind a tree he saw the stranger turn and look back, and seeing no one
in the road behind him, also leave it and plunge into the woods.

He had not turned toward Bedford; he had turned to the left. Like a
runner stealing bases, Jimmie slipped from tree to tree. Ahead of him he
heard the stranger trampling upon dead twigs, moving rapidly as one who
knew his way. At times through the branches Jimmie could see the broad
shoulders of the stranger, and again could follow his progress only by
the noise of the crackling twigs. When the noises ceased, Jimmie guessed
the stranger had reached the wood road, grass-grown and moss-covered,
that led to Middle Patent. So, he ran at right angles until he also
reached it, and as now he was close to where it entered the main road,
he approached warily. But he was too late. There was a sound like the
whir of a rising partridge, and ahead of him from where it had been
hidden, a gray touring-car leaped into the highway. The stranger was at
the wheel. Throwing behind it a cloud of dust, the car raced toward
Greenwich. Jimmie had time to note only that it bore a Connecticut St