sing point to stop at! Lawrence looked
at Quashy and at Manuela, who stood near.

"Does Manuela know anything of the mischief that is brewing?" asked
Lawrence in amazing Spanish.

"Not'ing," replied the girl in English, "but she _trust_ Pedro."

"So do I, with all my heart," returned Lawrence; "my question was
prompted by curiosity, not by doubt."

"I's not so sure," said Quashy, with a frown, and a tone of
self-assertion which was rare in him. "Nice-lookin' men like him's not
allers as nice as dey looks."

"Fie, Quashy! I thought you were of a more trustful spirit."

"So I is, massa--awrful trus'ful! Kin trus' _you_ wid a'most anyt'ing.
Trus' dis yer Injin gal wid untol' gol'. Trus' Sooz'n wid de whole
world, an' eberyt'ing else besides, but I's not quite so sure about dis
yer Pedro. Di'n't he say dar's noos to tell, an' he wants help, an'
der's mischif a-brewin'? An' ain't I sure 'nuff dat he's got suffin to
do wid de mischif, or he wouldn't be so secret?"

"Well, Quashy, you'd better not tell Pedro your doubts of him," said
Lawrence; "for if he knocks you down, I won't feel bound to stand up for
you--seeing that I have perfect confidence in him."

Further conversation on this point was cut abruptly short by a
tremendous hissing inside the cottage, followed by clouds of steam. It
was caused by one of Quashy's pots having boiled over. The negro sprang
to the rescue. Soon afterwards, the host and the old hunter returning,
they all entered the place together, and sat down to supper.

It was but a simple cottage, suitable to the simple tastes of a
mountaineer in such a region, with only two rooms and a kitchen, besides
a small attic divided into two chambers, which could be reached only by
a ladder through a trap-door. Little furniture graced it, yet what
little there was bore evidence of having felt the touch of a tasteful
female hand. Numerous nails and pegs were stuck in the walls for the
purpose of supporting fire-arms, etcetera, but the weapons had been
secreted in a place of safety, for, during the owner's frequent and long
absences from home, the cottage was locked up and left pretty much to
take care of itself, being deemed safe enough, owing to its remote and
lonely position.

The key was always left in charge of old Ignacio who was understood to
have his eye on the place, and privileged to inhabit it whenever he
chose.

All this, and a great deal more, Pedro told to Lawrence as they sat