easing one;
the eyes were of a gray color, but with a strange, restless glitter. His
appearance would lead one to set him down as a vagabond settler--one who
was so lazy that he spent the greater part of his time in hunting the
woods for game, or searching the streams for fish.

He was sharply scrutinized as he came to view, while he, in turn, keenly
surveyed the fugitives.

If he were a settler, as he appeared to be, there was not one of the
three who remembered seeing him before. To Jo Minturn there came a faint
impression that he had met him at some time, though he could not recall
where or when it was. But the stranger quickly recovered from the
temporary embarrassment he showed upon finding himself confronted by
three, where he expected to see only one person.

"Well, now, I am glad to meet you," he said, in a hearty way that
suggested the Mr. Perkins whom they had met when on the other side of
the river. "I cotched sight of that young man climbing a tree, though I
couldn't satisfy myself for a long time whether he was a friend or foe.
I suppose you know me, don't you?"

Ned answered for the others:

"I have no recollection of having ever seen you before."

"Why, I remember you very well. You are Ned Clinton, and that young
gentleman is Jo Minturn, with his sister Rosa."

"You are certainly right, as far as that goes, but you are none the less
a stranger to us for all that!"

"My name is Worrell, and I am a settler, living about a mile up the
river. I have often seen your father--both of them--at Forty Fort."

"That, I suppose, is where you have met us, also?"

"Yes, and at your homes near there. I do a great deal of hunting, and
have sold Mr. Minturn and Mr. Clinton a good deal of game."

"How is it you didn't recognize me when you saw me in the tree?"

"I couldn't make sure, because I couldn't get a fair look at you."

"How is it, too, that you are abroad at this time, when the Indians and
Tories are playing havoc in the valley?"

"That's just the reason," was the ready response of Worrell. "A party of
them came so near my home that I had to dig out. That was day before
yesterday, and I have been roaming about the woods ever since, not
daring to go back home again."

"What did they do with your family?"

"I haven't got any family, so there was nothing done with them."

"What were you doing when you observed me?"

"I had just reached that rock and had sat down to rest myself, when I
was scare