riod marked the stay of
himself and honest Eli in the wilderness seemed in a fair way to be
dissipated; and who could say what sort of storm and stress lay before
them--for one thing, he was glad that Owen had crossed his path, nor did
he mean that the other should ever go out of his life again--come what
would, he was bound to look forward to a future shared in common by
both, whether in American wilds or some far-distant country where
wonderful things were awaiting discovery.

CHAPTER VII.

OWL AND TIMBER WOLF.

When the two friends returned to the fire Stackpole was taking his ease
and smoking furiously, Eli having possibly supplied him with tobacco of
a brand far beyond any to which he may have been accustomed in his
wanderings.

Evidently, no matter what his suspicions may have been, the gaunt timber
nomad was resolved to seem quite at his ease; indeed, his was a nature
not easily disturbed by possible trouble--he found the vicinity of the
fire comfortable, and did not mean to forsake it in a hurry unless there
was urgent reason for decamping.

Eli, in his wild life among the lumberjacks, had met with too many
characters just like Stackpole, not to size the fellow up for just what
he must be; and while he carried on in a seemingly friendly way, he was
watching the other, with the idea of guessing his business in this
particular region; for he judged that Stackpole seldom made a move
without some suspicious object back of it.

When a lad is thrown upon his own resources at a very early age he soon
learns to analyze people and their motives in a manner equal to a
Sherlock Holmes, and Eli had always delighted in trying to read the
various types to be met with in the wilderness.

Cuthbert was uneasy.

The presence of this hulking rover took away from all the pleasure of
the camp, and he was provoked to think they should be compelled to
entertain one who was not only a stranger, but possessed of an unsavory
reputation.

Still, he had been in the woods enough to be aware that there is an
unwritten law governing hospitality around the campfire; and no matter
how unpleasant the presence of this timber-cruiser might be to him, he
did not wish to appear in the light of a boor.

They were three to one, and having been forewarned they could keep a
jealous eye on the said unwelcome guest so long as he remained; but
Cuthbert vowed to himself that with the break of day, and the morning
meal over, their paths