this distance, without knowing where we were going!"

"It was _not far_!" Mr. Smith moaned wearily. "Oh! it is tired am I!"

"Well! I'll be cow-kicked!"

And possibly David MacLester may be excused for using so impolite an
expression when his situation is considered. Here he was miles from
Opal Lake--miles from camp, and lost in the woods in the dead of night
with a strange man who might be either a dangerous crook or a harmless
lunatic--circumstances pointed toward both.

"Ye'll not be blamin' _me_, sure!" spoke the old fellow. His very voice
showed that he was indeed tired to the verge of fainting; but his manner
was as mild and child-like as his words.

Language could not express Dave's feelings. In mute contempt, anger,
weariness and a certain deep curiosity mingled, he dropped to the ground.

"I wouldn't blame you, mister," said the boy at last, "but I set out to
do you a friendly turn and you get me into this pickle as a result and
still give me no satisfaction as to where you belong or where you want
to get to."

"Jawn Smith"--and it plainly was not his name--made no answer for a long
time. Meanwhile David expressed himself pretty freely to the effect that
there was but one course to pursue and that was to stay right where they
were until morning. "And when daylight comes we'll head straight for the
lake," said he.

"It's no odds who I be," said the stranger finally. "If I be not a real
sivy-ear, I'm the likes of one, a peekin' and peekin'. Which is for why
I can't be gossipin' about matters that means a great deal to them that I
would be befriendin'. Come mornin', we'll see."

"Humph! Hope we may see more than we do this minute," Dave answered. For
although the two had been so long in the darkness that they could make
out trees and other objects well enough to avoid them, it had been a very
hard as well as a long tramp and the more so because of the gloom of night.

His head pillowed on his arm Dave fell asleep, at last, regardless of
the many things that vexed and worried him. His queer companion slept
also and so did the daylight find them sore and hungry. The sun's rays
brightened their spirits, but "you can't eat sunbeams," as MacLester
rather gloomily remarked. The first excitement of the adventure had
subsided now and he was quite inclined to despondency.

On the strength of the stranger's statement that his camp and baggage
and food he carried could be found in a short time Dave again let him