would make
when he suspected that some one else was trying to obtain a closer
scrutiny than was agreeable. Ned was not a little puzzled by what he
witnessed. He looked down to his friends, and spoke in a careful
undertone:

"Keep a sharp lookout; I have discovered something which I want to study
a while."

"All right," called back Jo; "manage your end of the rope as you ought,
and we'll take care of ours."

Left thus free, the sentinel devoted himself to the task of watching the
movements of the stranger, and learning what his intentions were in
conducting himself in the manner described.

"He can't get away from where he is without my seeing him," was the
reflection of the watcher, "and if he means mischief, I shall detect it
in time to prevent his hurting us."

The stranger at this period was invisible, as he must continue to be so
long as he kept behind the rock; but it was hardly likely that he would
stay there long.

"It may be he is some fugitive like ourselves," added young Clinton,
"and he doesn't feel certain enough of our identity as yet to trust
himself within reach."

CHAPTER XXII.

ANOTHER FUGITIVE.

At the end of five or ten minutes Ned Clinton, with his eyes fixed upon
the broad, flat rock, was sure he saw the figure of a man behind it. It
was only the top of his head, thrust a little above the edge of the
stone, as if the stranger were seeking a view of the one who was
watching him without his purpose being detected. The slouched hat and
the eyes and forehead were in plain sight for a minute or two, when they
sank down again and all was as before.

"If he is a friend," thought Ned, "he is very timid, or he has a queer
way of showing his good will."

The distance between the two was too great for either to do anything in
the way of shooting, but the youth was inclined to send a rifle shot in
that direction, as a challenge for the strange craft to come out and
show its colors.

He called down to Jo again, to watch for the approach of any foe, for he
was compelled to give close attention to this particular stranger, and
another might steal up beneath the very tree without the one in the
branches detecting his danger. In this way nearly an hour passed without
any change in the situation, and the fugitives began to look for the
return of the Mohawk, he having promised not to stay away long.

"I wish he would come," said the watchman, to himself, "for it wouldn't
take him a great whi