if we can avoid it. Where is the
dividing line?"

The question evidently took the man by surprise. He seemed confused.

"It's somewhere about here," he muttered. "I seen one of the stone piles
a while ago."

"Perhaps the young ladies were not trespassing at all," went on Allen.
"In that case I have to point out that you have exceeded your authority.
You may even be a trespasser yourself, on Mr. Ford's land. If you are,
don't be alarmed. We shall take no extreme measures."

"Huh! Think you're smart; don't you? Maybe you're a lawyer?"

"I am!" was the quiet answer "And I know my rights, and those of my
friends."

"So that's the game, is it? You're tryin' t' establish a right here.
Well, you can't do it! I order you off."

"First show that you have the right," insisted Allen. "Where is the
dividing line?"

The man looked up and down through the woods. He went a little way
backward, and then forward. Then he uttered an exclamation.

"There it is--back of you!" he exclaimed. "You're all on Mr. Jallow's
land now, and I order you off. Them stone piles are the points in the
line. That big pine tree is another mark. The line runs right along
here, and you're all trespassers."

"Well, if that is the correct line, perhaps we are," agreed the young
lawyer. "And we are willing to go--for the time being. But it looks to
me as though those stone piles had been very recently put up, and the
blaze on that tree is certainly a fresh one."

"I don't know nothin' about that," growled the man. "All I was told was
that this is the line, and to keep strangers off; so I'm going to do
it!"

"And we don't blame you," went on Will, recognizing that it would be
poor policy to quarrel with a mere guard. "If we question this at all it
will be with those in authority."

"Huh! If you lock horns with Mr. Jallow you'll be sorry for it," said
the guard. "Now you'd better go. My dog is getting uneasy."

"He'd better not get _too_ uneasy," remarked Frank significantly. "Come
on, girls," and the girls, who had been getting more and more nervous as
the talk proceeded, were glad enough to precede the boys off the
disputed territory. The man stood sullenly watching them, while the dog
growled deep in his throat.

"Well, you had quite an adventure; eh?" asked Will when they were out of
earshot of the man.

"Yes, and I was so afraid something would happen," said Grace. "He came
upon us so suddenly!"

"Evidently Mr. Jallow means to contest t