"Come down this way," said Sam.

"Well," answered Jake when he had moved a little way toward Sam.

"Do you see a hole in the top, just above your head?" asked Sam.

"Yes, but I can't see the sky through it."

"Never mind, get a stick to boost you, and climb up into it."

Jake did as he was told to do, and upon climbing up found that there
was a sort of passage way running laterally through the upper part of
the timber, crooked and so narrow that he could scarcely force his
way through it. Whither it led, he had no idea, but he obeyed Sam's
injunction to follow it, though he did so with great difficulty, as in
many places sticks were in the way, which it required his utmost
strength to remove. The passage through which he was crawling so
painfully, was one which Sam and his companions had made by dint of
great labor, during their residence in the tree root cavern a year
before. It led from the main alley way to their post of observation on
top of the pile, their look-out, from which they had been accustomed
to examine the country around, to see if there were Indians about,
when they had occasion to expose themselves outside of their place of
refuge. As the only way into this passage was through a "blind" hole
in the roof of the main alley way, no one would ever have suspected
its existence.

After awhile Jake's head emerged from the very top of the drift pile,
and he saw Sam lying flat down, just before him. He instinctively
shrank back.

"Come on," said Sam; "but don't rise up or the boys will see us. Crawl
out of the hole and then follow me on your hands and knees."

Jake obeyed, and the two presently jumped down to the ground on the
side of the hummock furthest from camp.

Jake's first glance revealed Sam fully dressed, and standing firmly
_in his boots_. There could be no mistake about it, and yet a moment
before he would have made oath that those very boots were hidden
hopelessly within the deepest recesses of the drift-pile. He could not
restrain the exclamation which rose to his lips:--

"_Where_ DID _you get them boots_?"

"Never mind where, or how. I have a word or two to say to you. You
took my boots and were on the point of throwing them into the river.
If you think such an act by way of revenge was manly and worthy of a
soldier, I will not dispute the point. You must determine that for
yourself."

"Let me tell you about it, Sam," began Jake in an apologetic voice.

"No, it isn't necessary," re