Dan felt so mean and sneaking that he did not want to see anybody, if
he could help it; and when he accidentally encountered Bob Owens and
Lester Brigham in the woods, he darted into the bushes and concealed
himself. He watched them while they were watching Don and Bert,
and when he saw them hitch their horses and creep along the fence
in pursuit of the wagon, he suddenly recalled some scraps of a
conversation he had overheard a few days before. He knew that Lester
was working against David, and believing from his stealthy movements
and Bob's that there was mischief afoot, he followed them with the
determination of putting in a word, and perhaps a blow, if he found
that David's interests were in jeopardy. He saw every move the two
boys made. He was lying in the bushes not more than fifty yards from
them, while they were watching Don and Bert put the captured quails
into the cabin, and when they went back to the place where they had
left their horses, they passed so close to him that he caught some of
their conversation. When they were out of sight and hearing Dan arose
and sat down on the nearest log to make up his mind what he was going
to do about it.

"I'll bet a hoss you don't steal them quail nor set fire to the
cabin, nuther," said he, to himself. "Thar's a heap of birds in
thar--seems to me that they had oughter ketched 'most as many as they
want by this time--an' they shan't be pestered; kase if they be,
what'll become of my shar' of them hundred an' fifty dollars? It'll
be up a holler stump, whar I thought it had gone long ago!"

Dan knew that if Lester and his friend had any designs upon the cabin
and the quails that were in it, they would not attempt to carry them
out before night; but the fear that something might happen if he went
home again troubled him greatly, and he resolved that he would not
lose sight of the cabin for a few hours at least. He did not know
what he would do to Lester and Bob if he caught them in the act of
trying to steal the quails; that was a point on which he could not
make up his mind until something happened to suggest an idea to him.
While he was sitting in his place of concealment, thinking busily, he
heard a rustling in the bushes and looked up to see one of Don's
hounds approaching.

In the days gone by, before Dan became such a rascal as he was now,
he had often accompanied Don and Bert on their 'coon and 'possum
hunting expeditions, and the old dogs in the pack were almost