he house, knock, ask some question, and secretly
snap whoever opened the door?

To think was to decide, and at once he set about preparations. Finding
some cord in a pocket, he first deadened the click of the shutter with a
thread of the string, and secured a piece of it to the shutter trigger.
Carefully then he wrapped the camera, open, in the paper, and with his
knife cut a small hole opposite the lens, and a second and smaller hole
beneath. Through the latter he fished out the trigger-string--and the
detective camera was complete.

Without delay Jack adjusted the parcel under his arm, holding the
trigger-string in his fingers, and strode boldly forward toward the
shanty. He reached it, approached the door, and knocked. From within came
the sound of voices, then a heavy step. Drawing the string taut Jack
moved back several paces, and pointed the opening in the package at the
door.

But success was not to come too easily. The latch lifted, and the door
opened only a few inches, barely showing the eyes and flat nose of the
negro.

"W'at yo' want?" he demanded.

"Would you please tell me the way out to the road?" said Jack steadily.

The negro regarded him sharply a moment, then opening the door barely
sufficient to reach out a hand, pointed toward the woods, and said
gruffly, "Yo' see dat broke tree? Right out dah."

"Which one? I see two," declared Jack, coolly.

Impatiently the negro threw the door wide, stepped out, and pointed
again. In an instant Jack had pulled the string, and from the parcel had
come a soft "thugk!" "Thank you, sir," said Jack, turning away, and
inwardly chuckling at the double meaning of the words. "Thank you."

"But look aheah, boy," added the colored man threateningly, "doan yo' be
prowlin' roun' heah! Un'stan'?"

"No fear. I'll be glad when I'm away," responded Jack, again secretly
laughing, and headed for the woods, the negro watching him until he was
half way across the clearing.

Once more in the shelter of the trees, Jack determined to follow up his
success by endeavoring to discover just what was taking place at the
cabin. Hiding the camera in a convenient brush-heap, he made sure all was
quiet, and again stole forth. Slipping quickly from shrub to shrub, he
safely made the crossing, and came to a halt at the rear of the shanty.

To his ears came the sound of voices in subdued discussion. They were so
muffled, however, that he could distinguish nothing, and recalling a
par