lives
and fortunes hang upon slender threads, and nothing must be left to
accident that can be guarded against."

While Harper was speaking he carefully rolled up the map he had been
studying, and placed it, together with sundry papers that were open,
in his pocket. He was still occupied in this manner, when the voice of
the peddler, talking in unusually loud tones, was heard directly over
their heads.

"Stand farther this way, Captain Wharton, and you can see the tents in
the moonshine. But let them mount and ride; I have a nest here that
will hold us both, and we will go in at our leisure."

"And where is this nest? I confess that I have eaten but little the
last two days, and I crave some of the cheer you mention."

"Hem!" said the peddler, exerting his voice still more, "hem!--this
fog has given me a cold; but move slow, and be careful not to slip, or
you may land on the bayonet of the sentinel on the flats; 'tis a steep
hill to rise, but one can go down it with ease."

Harper pressed his finger on his lip, to remind Frances of her
promise, and taking his pistols and hat, so that no vestige of his
visit remained, he retired deliberately to the far corner of the hut,
where, lifting several articles of clothing, he entered a recess in
the rock, and letting them fall again was hid from view. Frances
noticed, by the strong firelight, as he entered, that it was a natural
cavity, and contained nothing but a few more articles of domestic use.

The surprise of Henry and the peddler, on entering and finding Frances
in possession of the hut, may be easily imagined. Without waiting for
explanations or questions, the warm-hearted girl flew into the arms of
her brother, and gave vent to her emotions in tears. But the peddler
seemed struck with different feelings. His first look was at the fire,
which had been recently supplied with fuel; he then drew open a small
drawer of the table, and looked a little alarmed at finding it empty.

"Are you alone, Miss Fanny?" he asked in a quick voice; "you did not
come here alone?"

"As you see me, Mr. Birch," said Frances, raising herself from her
brother's arms, and turning an expressive glance towards the secret
cavern, that the quick eye of the peddler instantly understood.

"But why and wherefore are you here?" exclaimed her astonished
brother; "and how knew you of this place at all?"

Frances entered at once into a brief detail of what had occurred at
the house since their