Darling. "Let us drop the subject, nor call
it up again. I have my opinion, you yours, Mr Catlett."

The young scout turned from the boy and began to talk in a confidential
tone to the settler, which seemed to be a signal for a general
disbanding of the group, and the two were left alone.

"It is deuced queer," Carl Merriweather hastened to say to George
Darling. "He is taking her part, and I am satisfied that she is full of
treachery."

"I am of the same opinion, and that he, one of Wayne's scouts, should
defend her, is beyond my comprehension. She is drawing him on, and it
may be that she really loves him. But it looks to me as if she were
using him for a purpose. That scene between her and our guide was too
theatrical to be genuine. They overdid it. It was a preconcerted affair,
for it gave Darknight a chance to show his hand and get away. They are
together now, my word for it."

The boy shared his companion's opinion concerning the witch of the
woods, and they formed a cabal against her beneath the tree whose
shadows fell upon the murmuring Maumee.

By and by Wolf Cap came up from the river and rejoined the occupants of
the camp.

"He has seen something; look at his white face," whispered Abel
Merriweather to his nephew.

"No ghosts, at any rate, for one does not see them at this hour," was
the reply. "He will probably enlighten us."

But the scout did not do so, but talked about the journey and Wayne's
army, and the pallor gradually left his face.

The noonday meal was discussed, after which the journey was resumed.

As the woods were not very clear of underbrush, the progress was of
necessity quite slow, and at nightfall the party halted in a picturesque
ravine through which in years gone by some woodland stream had poured
its waters into the Maumee.

Wild, luxuriant grass covered the bed of the place, and the bank on
either side was clothed in that verdure which so beautifies the woods in
summer. It was a fit camping place for the night, for the mouth of the
ravine was hidden by a fallen tree, and a fire could not have been
noticed from the river.

Darkness settled rapidly down upon the camp, and Harvey Catlett tore
himself from talkative Kate Merriweather, and prepared to guard her
while she slept in the boat.

He took up a position at the mouth of the ravine and near the river. Not
far away Wolf Cap kept his vigils, and little Carl Merriweather,
determined to be of some service, kept sentry at