4 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



He did not have many minutes to wait. Pres- 

 ently the stranger came striding along the road, 

 his eyes roving from side to side and seeming to 

 take note of every leaf and twig. When almost 

 opposite the clump of bushes where Shan was 

 hiding, he stopped and spoke. 



'^Yo' might as well come out o' those bushes, 

 boy, ' ' he said ; ' ' yo ' can 't hide from me, that way. ' ' 



Crestfallen, Shan stepped out. 



"Yo' wanted to make sure that I was gone,'* 

 the man remarked, sourly, "so as yo' could tell 

 yo' uncle, who, likely, is off the other way. Ain't 

 that so?" 



The boy made no reply. 



The stranger, rightly interpreting this silence 

 to mean that his guess was correct, proceeded, 



''I'm goin' down to the Forks, as yo' see, an' 

 if Bull Adam ain't there, I'll know yo' were lyin'. 

 It's easy enough to tell when there's some one in 

 the forest, if yo' ain't deaf, blind, or a fool. I 

 reckon yo've been wonderin' how I knew yo' were 

 there." 



Shan looked up with a quick eagerness. That 

 was exactly what had puzzled him. 



The stranger glanced down contemptuously. 

 ''Folks like you-all live in the woods all yo' 



