d a
rock.

Janus had clattered down the rocks after the intruder. The guide's
revolver began to speak. He was firing wildly, not being able to see
the man, who either had got safely away, or else was in hiding behind
one of the many rocks and projections. It did not seem as if he could
have run down the mountainside at the rate he was going without falling
and breaking his neck. The guide fired his revolver into every dark
recess that he thought might afford a hiding place for the fugitive.
Then he loaded up and emptied his revolver a second time.

By this time the camp was almost in a state of panic. Miss Elting
spoke sharply to the girls, commanding them to stop their shouting and
to come back.

"Mr. Grubb, if you keep on shooting you will have no ammunition left,"
the guardian warned him. "Besides, I would rather you wouldn't shoot
any more. We don't know that this man is the one we suspect."

Janus broke his smoking revolver and ejected the exploded shells, after
which he recharged the cylinder and put the weapon back in his pocket.
He returned to the campfire, holding his hat in one hand, with the
other hand brushing the perspiration from his forehead.

"Well, I swum!" he muttered. "I swum!"

"Harriet, we will hear your explanation. Why didn't you tell Mr. Grubb
in time, so he could look after this fellow?" demanded Miss Elting.
"You knew there was some one about some time before you got up and
walked away, didn't you?"

"I thought I heard some one. That was the reason I strolled off by
myself."

"So I supposed," commented the guardian.

"Had I said anything the person would have cried out and given the
alarm. I wanted to satisfy myself that I was right, and I was."

"I should say you were!"

"Yeth, and he had black whithkerth, too," interjected Tommy.

"He wore a soft hat pulled down over his face," added Margery.

"I believe it is the same man," said the guardian reflectively.

"Get back out of the light, ladies, please," urged the guide. "We will
let the fire burn, but we had better keep out of the light. The man
may have a gun."

"No, he has not," spoke up Harriet.

"What was he doing out there?" questioned Miss Elting.

"Spying on the camp, then getting ready to shoot. I think he was going
to shoot Mr. Grubb," was the startling declaration. Janus gripped his
whiskers with all the fingers of the right hand. He gave the whiskers
a tug that threatened to thin them out.

"Sh