of the woods. But you know he is so much younger than you, and
has had so little experience, that you must be charitable, and not judge
him too harshly."

Jo laughed and shook his head at his sister, who persisted in "touching"
him up on every occasion.

"As we are to stay here indefinitely," said Ned, "there can be no harm
in taking an observation and learning something for ourselves."

"How are we to do it?" asked his friend.

Ned pointed to the towering trees which stood on every hand.

"Climb up among those branches; what better outlook can one ask than he
can get among those limbs?"

"What a nice target a man would be, too, if an Indian should catch sight
of him!" said Rosa, as she looked up at the leaves gently swaying in the
slight morning breeze. "But after what Lena-Wingo said, I don't think
there's much to be feared of that, and I look upon your idea as a good
one, Edward."

"If my sister considers the idea a good one," said Jo, "that settles it,
and you need have no further fear."

"Of course not," was the prompt assent of Ned, who moved to the tree
which he had selected as his lookout.

As there was a remote possibility that some such a contingency as the
one intimated by their fair companion might occur, Jo and Rosa stationed
themselves beneath the tree to guard against surprise, Jo holding his
gun ready, while Ned left his own piece in the hands of Rosa, who,
should the occasion arise, knew how to employ it effectively. It was
the work of a few minutes for the athletic young man to make his way to
the top of the tree, which was one of the tallest in the neighborhood,
and gave him the opportunity he wished. Ned remembered the words of
Rosa, which, uttered in jest as they were, contained a good deal of
sense. While making his way among the limbs, he frequently paused and
carefully scrutinized the ground below, on the lookout for lurking
Indians.

The most rigid scrutiny failed to reveal anything alarming, and reaching
as high a point as was prudent, he settled himself among the luxuriant
branches, and then, like the shipwrecked mariner, looked long and
searchingly over the waste around him.

Peering to the northward, from his elevated perch, Ned saw the stretch
of woods, cultivated fields, the broad, smoothly-flowing Susquehanna,
with the faint view of the ruins of Fort Wintermoot and of Forty Fort
beyond. The view was a lovely one, as seen in the clear sunlight of this
summer morning, and it