lf on the
brink of the gorge, and confronted by a figure in buckskin, who stood
leaning on a long, double-barrel shot-gun. Archie started back in
dismay, and so did the boy in buckskin, who turned pale, and gazed at
the fugitive as if he were hardly prepared to believe that he was a
human being. He speedily recovered himself, however, and after he had
let down the hammer of his gun, which he had cocked when the ragged
apparition first came in sight, he dropped the butt of the weapon to the
ground, exclaiming:

"Archie Winters!"

"Benedict Arnold!"

For a moment the two boys stood looking at each other without moving or
speaking. Archie was wondering if it were possible for him to effect the
capture of the traitor, and Arthur, while he gazed in astonishment at
the fugitive's tattered garments and bloody face, was chuckling to
himself, and enjoying beforehand the punishment he had resolved to
inflict upon Archie. The opportunity he had wished for so long had
arrived at last.

"I have found you, have I?" said Arthur, resting his elbows on the
muzzle of his gun, and looking at Archie with a triumphant smile.

"Well, suppose you have; what do you propose to do about it?"

"It is my intention to teach you to respect a gentleman the next time
you meet one."

[Illustration]

"How are you going to do it?"

"In the first place, by giving you a good beating."

"Humph!" said Archie, contemptuously, looking at Arthur from head to
foot, as if he were taking his exact measure. "It requires a boy with
considerable 'get up' about him to do that."

"None of your impudence, you little Yankee," exclaimed Arthur, angrily.
"I'm going to take some of it out of you before you are two minutes
older."

When the traitor selected Archie as the one upon whom he could wreak his
vengeance without danger to himself, he had made a great mistake. Archie
was smaller than most boys of his age, but, after all, he was an
antagonist not to be despised. He was courageous, active, and as wiry as
an eel; and his body, hardened by all sorts of violent exercise, was as
tough as hickory. He trembled a little when he looked over into the
gorge, and thought of the possible consequences of an encounter on that
cliff, but he was not the one to save himself by taking to his heels,
nor did it come natural to him to stand still and take a whipping as
long as he possessed the strength to defend himself. A single glance was
enough to convince him that the