orn button
attached to the bit of brown jeans, which was a three-cornered scrap of
his coat. No! of _Barney's_ coat. And was it to be a witness against
poor Barney, who had not gone near the Conscripts' Hollow, but was lying
asleep on the summit of the crag, supposing he had his own coat under
his own head?

He did not discover his mistake until some time afterward, for when Nick
had slowly and laboriously climbed up the steep face of the cliff, he
stripped off his friend's torn coat before he roused him. Barney was
awakened by having his pillow dragged rudely from under his head, and
when at last he reluctantly opened his eyes on the hazy yellow
sunlight, and saw Nick standing near on the great gray crag, he had no
idea that this moment was an important crisis in his life.

The wind was coming up the gorge fresh and free; the autumnal foliage,
swaying in it, was like the flaunting splendors of red and gold banners;
the western ranges had changed from blue to purple, for the sun was
sinking.

"It's gittin' toler'ble late, Barney," said Nick. "Let's go." He had on
his own coat now, and he was impatient to be off.

"Did ye find the tur-r-key's nest in the Conscripts' Hollow?" asked
Barney, with a lazy yawn, and still flat on his back.

"No," said Nick curtly.

Then it occurred to him that it would be safer if his friend should
think he had not been in the Hollow. "No," he reiterated, after a pause,
"I didn't go down ter the ledge arter all."

He had begun to lie,--where would it end?

"Whyn't you-uns go?" demanded Barney, surprised.

"The wind war blowin' so powerful brief," Nick replied without a qualm.
"So I jes' s'arched fur a while in the woods back thar a piece."

In a moment more, Barney rose to his feet, picked up his coat, and put
it on. He did not notice the torn place, for the garment was old and
worn, and had many ragged edges. It lacked, however, but one button, and
that missing button was attached to the triangular bit of brown jeans
that fluttered on the thorny bush close to the Conscripts' Hollow.

All unconscious of his loss, he went away in the rich autumnal sunset,
leaving it there as a witness against him.

CHAPTER II

After this, Nicholas Gregory was very steady at his work for a while. He
kept out of the woods as much as possible, and felt that he knew more
already than was good for him. Above all, he avoided that big sandstone
cliff and the Conscripts' Hollow, where the goods lay hi