get here?"

"Is there no way of traveling through the woods except by the road that
leads to your door?"

The conversation was between Harvey and Hugh alone. Tom was abashed in
the presence of two such persons, and nothing could have led him to
open his mouth unless appealed to by one or the other. Neither made
any allusion to the strike. After the superintendent's rebuff, Hugh
scorned to do so, while Harvey would have stultified himself had he
invited any discussion. The repugnance between the two men was too
strong for them calmly to debate any question. Besides Hugh and Tom
were suspicious; they did not believe that the presence of the
superintendent was accidental; there was a sinister meaning in it which
boded ill for Hugh and his friends, and the former, therefore, was in a
vicious mood.

With the conditions named, a wrangle may be set down as one of the
certainties. But Harvey Bradley had defied the fury of half a hundred
men, and he meant to teach this marplot his proper place. There was a
threatening gleam in his eye, but he puffed a few seconds at his pipe,
and then, glaring through the rank smoke that curled upward from his
face said:

"There are a good many ways by which Hugh O'Hara's cabin can be found,
but those who come on honest errands stick to the path."

"Which explains why the path is so little worn," was the reply of
Harvey.

"Aye, and your feet have done mighty little to help the wearing of the
same."

"If those who live in the cabin were honest themselves, they would not
tremble every time the latch-string is pulled, nor would they be scared
if they saw a visitor stop to snuff the air in this neighborhood."

This was an ill-timed remark, and Harvey regretted the words the moment
they passed his lips. He saw Hugh and Tom glance at each other; but
the words, having been spoken, could not be recalled, nor did the
superintendent make any attempt to modify them. Before the others
could answer, he added:

"I have heard it said that Hugh O'Hara held this place in such strong
disfavor that nothing could lead him to spend a night here, yet he
smokes his pipe and plots mischief as if the cabin is the one place in
the world with which he is content."

These words were not soothing in their effect, nor did the speaker mean
that they should be. Hugh was insolent, and the superintendent
resented it.

The only proof of the rising anger in the breast of O'Hara was the
vigorous puffing of