he replied.

"How do you know this?"

"Well, I s'pose I've got to put you wise. I go fishing evenings, when
the trout are on the feed just before it's dusk, and I'd seen Steve
prospecting round the pools among the reefs. Struck me as kind of
curious, because if he was looking for something, he'd do better in
daylight."

Scott glanced at Thirlwell, who remembered having come upon Driscoll
when he was apparently engaged in searching the pools. It was obvious to
him, and he thought to Scott, that the fellow had chosen the twilight in
order to avoid being seen.

"Did Driscoll see you?" Thirlwell asked.

"I don't know; the boys tell me he's a trapper," Drummond answered with
a smile.

"I suppose that means you kept out of sight and watched? But go on with
your tale."

"One evening I was sitting among the rocks. It was very calm and getting
dark when I heard a rattle and a splash. I reckoned Steve was looking
hard for something if he trod on a loose stone."

Thirlwell nodded. Driscoll was a skilful trapper and a trapper does not
disturb loose stones. Since he had made a noise, it was obvious that he
was very much occupied, and thought himself alone. In a way, it was
curious that he imagined there was nobody about; but although Driscoll
had studied wood-craft, Drummond had, no doubt, inherited the ability to
lurk unseen in the bush. Thirlwell could picture the lad crouching in
the gloom of the dark pines.

"After a piece," Drummond resumed, "I got his figure against the sky,
and reckoned, because he looked short, he was wading in a pool. Felt I
had to see what he was looking for, but knew I couldn't get near him
along the bank. There are patches of gravel among the rocks, and the
brush grows pretty thick where it gets the light at the edge of a wood."

"Willows, for the most part; they're green, and soft, just now," Scott
remarked.

"You can't crawl through green brush without making some noise. If you
watch your arms and shoulders, you can't watch your feet."

"How'd you know that? Gone hunting often?"

"Never owned a gun," said Drummond "Still I did know."

"It doesn't matter. Go on," said Scott, who looked at Thirlwell
meaningly.

"For a while, I couldn't see what I'd better do, and then I looked at
the water. It was glimmering a few yards out, but there was a dark piece
where the stream runs slack beside the rocks, and I took off my jacket
and my boots."

"Why didn't you take off all your clothes?" Sc