s was splendid.

'Hello, Albert!' he said; 'it's all right. There's no need to 'elp me
up.'

'Help you up!' hissed the stranger. 'What are you doing here? What do
you mean by watching me?'

His Cockney accent, too, was wiped out as if by magic. Probably he had
forgotten for the instant that he had used it in Locking. At any rate,
he did not use it now. But his English was perfect, in word and
tone--the English of a well-educated man.

'Why,' said Chippy calmly, as if to tumble on a man's head was the most
natural thing in the world, 'me an' a lot more are out to-day for a run
over the he'th. One cuts ahead, an' the rest of us foller 'im. We've
lost the one we foller, an' he's got to be found, so I'm looking
everywheer. Wot made yer pull yer boot off? Got a stone in it?'

Chippy did this superbly. He boldly mentioned the fact that the boot
was off, and he suggested a probable explanation, and he did it all
with just the right amount of careless curiosity. But he was dealing
with no common man. The tall, powerful foreigner was still holding him
by one hand with a grip of steel, and the fierce blue eyes blazed again
with suspicion and distrust. The man spoke, and his tone was low and
cool, for he had mastered himself, but there was a hard note in it.

'How long had you been there?' he asked quietly.

'Just seein' who it was, then tumbled,' said Chippy.

The Raven knew--how he could not say--but he knew that he was in great
danger. There was a dreadful change in this man. The chattering
Cockney who had called himself Albert had gone, and a grim, stern,
savage man stood in his place, a man whose fierce glittering eyes
seemed to be striving to pierce Chippy's very soul and read his
thoughts.

Chippy was indeed in danger. For Dick was right: this man was a spy
sent by his Government to gather for them all particulars of the new
fort which was being built at the mouth of the river. So far the spy
had been very successful, and to carry off his notes and to secure his
own safety he was quite ready to kill this boy if need should arise,
and hide his body in this solitary place.

Consider for a moment the position in which the spy stood. What is the
punishment threatened to the spy who is caught at such a task? Death!
What will the Government he serves do to help him? Nothing at all,
nothing. It may be a Government quite friendly to the land where the
spy is seized. It will disavow him, and leave