go.

"I won't fail you," replied Fred quietly.

"You're in for it now," remarked Bowman, as they started to walk home.
"You might as well turn sick nurse at once as give up your time to
Sinclair."

"I might be sick sometime myself," said Fred, "and in that case I
should be sorry to be left alone."

"Oh, well, suit yourself," said Bowman carelessly. "I'd rather it would
be you than me, for that matter. I shall expect you to go out to the
woods with me in the forenoon."

"All right!"

"Well," thought Fred, as he slipped into bed at ten o'clock, "I've made
a beginning. I have formed the acquaintance of both parties to the
robbery. The next step will be more difficult."

CHAPTER XXX.

A HUNTING EXCURSION.

Fred did not rise till eight o'clock the next morning. He was fatigued
by his long journey, and slept late. When he descended, he found Bowman
seated at the breakfast-table.

"I got ahead of you," said Bowman.

"How long have you been down-stairs?"

"About ten minutes."

"Are we likely to have a good day for hunting?"

"Good enough," answered Bowman, indifferently. "I am not an
enthusiastic sportsman. I only take to it to fill up a part of my time.
It is about the only thing I can do in this dull hole."

"You might read. I brought two or three novels in my valise, and will
lend yon one if you care for it."

"I don't care for reading. Stories tire me. I used to read the daily
papers in New York, but can't get hold of any here New York dailies, I
mean. I don't care for Canadian papers unless they contain news from
New York."

"I have with me the _Tribune, World,_ and _Sun,_ of day before
yesterday."

"I should like to see them," said Bowman, eagerly. "If you will bring
them down, I will look over them in the woods."

"All right! I am glad I saved them. I had a mind to throw them away, or
leave them in the car."

The breakfast was plain, but Fred and Bowman, who were the only guests,
were not difficult to suit.

Ten minutes later they were on their way to the woods. They went across
the fields, taking a footpath trodden in the snow, which materially
shortened the distance. But even tramping this far tired Bowman, and
when they reached a small rock that cropped out from the expanse of
white, he declared that he must rest awhile.

He took a seat on the bowlder and began to read one of the papers he
had brought with him.

Five minutes later he uttered an exclamation of surprise. Fred looked