or stuck for your pains," said Goff. "Do you
suppose that such a hulking, long-legged fellow as you are, can creep
into a camp like an or'nary man without drawin' attention?"

"Perhaps not," returned Stalker; "but are there not such things as
disguises? Have you not seen me with my shootin'-coat and botanical box
an' blue spectacles, an' my naturally sandy hair."

"No, no, captain!" cried Goff, with a laugh, "not sandy; say yellow, or
golden."

"Well, golden, then, if you will. You've seen it dyed black, haven't
you?"

"Oh yes! I've seen you in these humblin' circumstances before now,"
returned the lieutenant, "and I must say your own mother wouldn't know
you. But what's the use o' runnin' the risk, captain?"

"Because I owe Bevan a grudge!" said the chief, sternly, "and mean to be
revenged on him. Besides, I want the sweet Betty for a wife, and intend
to have her, whether she will or no. She'll make a capital bandit's
wife--after a little while, when she gets used to the life. So now you
know some of my plans, and you shall see whether the hulking botanist
won't carry all before him."

"O-ho!" muttered the snake-in-the-grass, very softly; and there was
something so compound and significant in the tone of that second "O-ho!"
soft though it was, that it not only baffles description, but--really,
you know, it would be an insult to your understanding, good reader, to
say more in the way of explanation! There was also a heaving of the
snake's shoulders, which, although unaccompanied by sound, was eminently
suggestive.

Feeling that he had by that time heard quite enough, Tolly Trevor
effected a masterly retreat, and returned to the place where he had left
the horses. On the way he recalled with satisfaction the fact that Paul
Bevan had once pointed out to him the exact direction of Simpson's Gully
at a time when he meant to send him on an errand thither. "You've on'y
to go over there, lad," Paul had said, pointing towards the forest in
rear of his hut, "and hold on for two days straight as the crow flies
till you come to it. You can't well miss it."

Tolly knew that there was also an easier though longer route by the
plains, but as he was not sure of it he made up his mind to take to the
forest.

The boy was sufficiently trained in woodcraft to feel pretty confident
of finding his way, for he knew the north side of trees by their bark,
and could find out the north star when the sky was clear, besides