me show you where I propose to locate the road in order best to
accommodate those living this side of Portsmouth."

Stephen was more interested in the progress of Walter's work than in
the stirring events he had just been describing, and the remainder of
the day was spent by the two young men in discussing every detail
connected with the proposed mill.

Shortly before nightfall Sewatis returned to camp with a fine buck, and
prepared the evening meal after his own fashion, which was certainly a
fashion not to be despised.

It was Stephen's intention to return to Portsmouth on the following
morning, and the friends sat around the camp-fire until a late hour
that evening. Walter had many messages to send to his mother and Master
McCleary, and if the messenger remembered them all his memory must have
been prodigious.

Finally, the young men crept into the lean-to where Sewatis lay,
apparently sleeping, and very shortly after they had stretched
themselves out on the fragrant fir boughs their eyes were closed in
slumber.

Then, if a spectator had been in the vicinity, would have been
witnessed a singular scene.

Soon after the heavy breathing of the white men told that they were in
the land of dreams, Sewatis rose to a sitting posture, listened
intently, although nothing could be heard save the cries of the
night-birds and the usual sounds of a forest when the mantle of
darkness has fallen.

The Indian lay down again; but even as his head touched the fir he
began to slip softly toward the fire until his body was outside the
shelter of the lean-to. Then he rolled over and over until the bushes
hid him completely, and no sound came to tell of his whereabouts.

Ten minutes after he disappeared a face peered from amid the foliage,
and the odour of rum might have been detected upon the air.

The sleepers were suddenly awakened by a crashing amid the underbrush,
and as they leaped to their feet, awake and on the alert in an instant,
Walter cried,--

"Look out, there! don't shoot! One of those is Sewatis; but who is he
struggling with?"

At that moment the combatants rolled toward the fire in such a manner
that the faces of both could be seen, and Stephen cried,--

"It's Jim Albert! Look out for yourself, Walter; he has come here for
mischief!"

"And he seems to be getting about as much as he wants," Walter replied,
grimly, as he darted forward to assist Sewatis in case it should become
necessary.

The Indian di