amp. That he could not
be an honest woodsman it was easy to guess, for as such he would have
stalked straight into camp, sure of the warm welcome that is always
extended to a stranger who looks good.

Eli pointed to the impression close to the footprints.

"Thar's whar he rested the butt o' his rifle," he said, positively, and
Thad knew it was exactly as Eli declared, just as though he could
himself see the actions of the hidden man. "Got on his knees and crawled
up to whar he c'ud poke his nose outen the scrub hyar, an' watch us. And
hyar's whar he was arestin' on jest wun knee; cause ye kin see the mark
o' his foot beyond."

"What was he doing that for?" asked Thad, though deep down in his heart
he seemed to instinctively know.

"Wall, I kinder guess naow thet he mout a be'n a tryin' to see how he
cud kiver wun o' us with his _gun!_" replied Eli.

He beckoned to Jim, and that worthy approached. There was a troubled
look on the face of the younger guide that Thad could not but notice;
and he realized that the affair might not be so great a mystery to Jim
as it seemed to the rest of them.

"Take a squint at them hood tracks hyar, Jim; p'raps ye mout sorter
reckernize the same," Eli remarked drily.

Jim only needed that one glance, and then he gritted his teeth as he
observed:

"Oh! twar _him_, all right, Eli; I knowed it."

"Wow! and again I say, wow! this here is sure getting mighty
interesting!" muttered Giraffe, shuffling uneasily from one foot to the
other; while Bumpus, filled with a sudden alarm, started back into the
camp, to arm himself with his new gun.

"Do you mean Old Cale Martin?" demanded Thad.

"None other," answered Jim, moodily.

"Then he must have seen you, Jim, sitting here?" the patrol leader went
on.

"He shore did," replied the short guide.

"And amused himself covering you with his gun, just as if to say that he
could put a bullet in you, if so be he wanted; but he didn't want to,
did he Jim?

"Reckon he didn't, sir," the other ventured. "Yuh see, he ain't jest
_thet_ mad at me, so's tuh wanter kill me; jest sez as haow I
gotter keep away from whar he camps, yuh know."

"Sill, he said he meant to pin your ears to a tree, if he caught you up
here; those were about the words your guide friend, Hen Parry, used,
weren't they, Jim?"

"Thet's what they was; an' he meant it, too," Jim replied. "Thet's one
o' his good points, thet he allers keeps his word. If them game wardens
cud