u mean by telling Dave
that he was not Dave Porter?"

"Never you mind, you'll find out soon enough," grumbled the prisoner.

"Very well, Link, if you don't want to tell me you don't have to. Just
the same, if you are trying to hatch out some plot against Dave, I warn
you to be careful. He has stood about as much as he intends to stand."

"This is no plot; this is something real," grumbled Link Merwell. "Just
you wait, that's all," and then he lay down on the couch once more and
pretended to go to sleep.

At the proper time Luke came to relieve Phil, and was followed by Ben,
and then by Shadow.

"Say, it's cold to-night," remarked the former story-teller of Oak Hall,
as he took the shotgun and sat down on the stool. "If this weather keeps
on, before long we'll have frost up here, and we'll all be thinking of
going home."

"Better put on an extra coat; here is one," answered Ben, and passed the
garment over. Then he returned to the other bungalow, for he was tired.

Shadow had expected to have quite a talk with the prisoner, but in this
he was disappointed, for Link appeared to be asleep, and he did not have
the heart to awaken the prisoner. He sat on the stool, thinking over
several of the stories he had told from time to time, and trying to
invent one or two new ones.

In the midst of his revery a sound from outside startled him. It was the
hooting of an owl, and so close that the mournful sound made Shadow
shiver.

"I'd like to shoot that owl," he told himself, as the hooting continued.
"If I brought him down I could have him stuffed," he thought, with some
satisfaction.

Shadow looked at the motionless form on the couch, and then arising from
the stool, tiptoed his way into the big living-room of the bungalow. One
of the windows was wide open, and he looked out of this to see if he
could locate the owl. The hooting was now closer than before and seemed
to come from a tree not twenty-five feet away.

"Say, there's a chance for a shot," murmured the youth to himself. "If I
could only spot that owl I'm sure I could----"

Thump! Shadow received a staggering blow in the back of the neck, and
then felt himself hurled to one side, while the shotgun was wrenched
from his grasp. Then, before he could recover from his astonishment, a
figure leaped through the open window and dashed across the moonlit
dooryard.

"Hi! Stop!" yelled Shadow, as soon as he could recover his breath.
"Stop! Help!"

"What's the racke