was moving
along where the shadows die out. Now he's past that place. It's a man,
believe me; and he's meaning to sneak in here to-night, to rob us.
There, see him moving again, will you?"

"Yes, I do believe it is a man, bending over at that," agreed Phil.

"He's moving off, seems like," observed X-Ray, who had not altogether
fancied Lub's allusion to his nose, because it _was_ rather large.

"Mebbe he's seen us peeking out and thinks it's time he sheered off?"
suggested Ethan.

"Had we better collar him, Phil?" asked X-Ray, who was inclined to be
very quick in his actions, and often without due thought making some
move he was likely to regret later.

"No, that would be silly," decided Phil. "The only weapons we've got
consist of one revolver, a couple of camp hatchets, and some hunting
knives. How do we know what he might do, or how many of them there may
be? Let him look at the cabin, and then go away. I don't think we'll be
bothered by anybody."

"And I'm not going to lie awake thinking about it," said Ethan. "If he
comes in here, and finds anything worth while, we could surround him and
make him go shares, you know."

"There, he's moving off at last," said Lub; "but I don't like all this
mystery. Who is he, and what does he want? We'd be happier if we moved
on, and built a cabin somewhere else."

"What!" exclaimed the belligerent X-Ray, "clear out when Phil owns the
whole shebang, and has invited us up? Well, I guess not!"

CHAPTER V

THE SUDDEN AWAKENING

"Thought you meant to go to bed, Lub?" said Ethan, some little time
afterwards, as they were all sitting around again.

"Oh! somehow I seem to have gotten over my sleepy spell," admitted the
other, frankly; "perhaps it was the excitement over seeing that prowler
outside that did it. I'm as wide awake as a hawk right now."

"Well, it's just the other way with me," X-Ray remarked, yawning almost
as furiously as Lub had been doing before; "I'm getting dopey, and mean
to turn in pretty soon. If nothing else happens to bother, nobody's
going to hear a word from me after I hit the hay."

Lub looked at him painfully, but he did not think it best to ask further
questions lest he stir up a hornets' nest. There was something on Lub's
mind. Phil understood this from various signs. He began to get an
inkling as to what its nature might prove to be, when several times he
saw the other lean forward and look long and earnestly up the chimney.

"What