d into the camp. "I am afraid I am not getting
proper nourishment. My wind is not as good as it used to be. Nora
darling, you will have to feed your husband better if you expect him to
live this strenuous life."

"Did you hit him?" questioned Emma eagerly.

"No."

"Fiddlesticks! If I could not shoot straighter than that I think I
should practice until I learned how to shoot."

"No you wouldn't. You would just sit down and 'con-centrate,'" retorted
Hippy Wingate. "What do you make of all this, Brown Eyes?"

"More than I can very well express."

"I wish you might have been willing for me to use on him some of the
methods employed by the intelligence department of the army to make
Boche prisoners talk. He would talk, all right," said Hippy.

"This is not war," reminded Grace.

"No, but it is going to be," answered Hippy briefly. "Well, what do you
dope out?"

"I think that the man who was just here is a Thompson man. Did you
notice his expression when you mentioned Bat Spurgeon? If ever there was
murder in a man's eyes, there was in his."

Hippy nodded.

"From what you overheard the night you were a captive of the
mountaineers, you understood that the Spurgeons were going to start
trouble with Jed Thompson, did you not?"

"Yes. Of course that may have been mere bluff talk," said Hippy.

"I don't think so. They are a bad lot, all of them. I am glad we have
decided to leave this place, for, having assaulted our visitor, we may
look for reprisals from Thompson."

"What's the difference? There is a price on my head, so I might as well
be a lion as a lamb. Is there any bear meat left?"

"None cooked," replied Nora. "The 'constable' ate it all."

"I hope it gives him indigestion for life," growled Hippy. "I will watch
the camp to-night, and, if you hear a rifle fired, don't get excited. It
will be the man-with-a-price-on-his-head taking a pot shot at some
fellow who is trying to earn the reward."

The Overland Riders did not sleep very well that night, for each of them
looked for action from the mountain men. Nothing, however, occurred to
disturb the camp.

Next morning Lieutenant Wingate went to the Thompson cabin to get milk,
hoping to see Jed Thompson and have a talk with him, but Julie said
"Paw" was not at home and might not be for "a right smart time."

While at the cabin, Lieutenant Wingate inquired how to reach the
schoolhouse in Coon Hollow where the dance was to be held that night.
Julie told h