ust
on the other side of the fence. He paid no attention to the sound
until the wagon was brought to a stand-still in front of the thicket,
and somebody, after working his way into the bushes, called out in a
cheery voice:

"Here's the first instalment of your hundred and fifty dollars,
David!"

These words made Dan so excited that he almost betrayed his presence
by letting his rifle fall out of his hands. He cautiously raised
himself to a standing position on the log, and looking through the
tops of the bushes, listened intently to catch every word that was
said.

CHAPTER XIII.

TEN DOLLARS REWARD.

When the quails had been taken out of the trap and put into the coop,
the wagon drove on, and Dan sat down on his log to think about what
he had just heard, and to wait until the coast was clear, so that he
could resume his walk toward the landing. He had learned two things.
One was that his brother had not given up the idea of trapping the
quails, as he had supposed, and the other was that there was somebody
besides himself whom David had reason to fear.

"Looks now as though you were goin' to 'arn your money in spite of
Dan and Lester," thought the listener, recalling the last words he
had heard Don utter. "That must be that Brigham boy up to that big
white house. What's he got to say 'bout it, I'd like to know? I'll
jest keep an eye on him. He don't want to let me ketch him foolin'
round them traps, 'kase I'll make him think war times has come back
sure enough. Now that I've got another chance to 'arn a share in them
hundred and fifty dollars, nobody shan't take it away from me."

Dan was as good as his word. He kept a sharp watch over David's
interests, and perhaps we shall see that he was the means of
defeating a certain plan, which, if it had been carried into
execution, would have worked a great injury to the boy trapper.

The wagon having passed on out of hearing, Dan shouldered his rifle
and started toward the landing. While he was skulking through the
woods at the lower end of the field, he stopped in a fence corner
long enough to see David and his two friends transfer another
good-sized catch from one of the traps to the coop in the wagon. The
sight encouraged him greatly. If David's good luck would only
continue for just one week, the fifty dozen birds would certainly be
captured, and Dan would stand a chance of making a small fortune. It
was not so very small either in his estimation. His sh