ould take a
look at the lame part when they stopped for their midday meal, very soon
now.

There was only one man in the canoe that was approaching, and presently
Jim Hasty remarked that he knew him.

"It's sure Hen Parry, from up where I used to hold out," he went on to
say; and then called out to the approaching Maine guide, as his make-up
pronounced the other to be; "hullo, Hen, howd'ye? Glad tuh see yuh. Come
closer, and shake hands. How's everybody up to the old place?"

The other dark-faced fellow seemed pleased to his old friend, and
immediately gripped the extended hand.

"Guess ther putty well up thar, Jim; an' no need o' my askin' how ye
be'n, 'cause yer lookin' prime," he remarked; and then suddenly an
expression akin to dismay flashed across his weather-beaten face, as he
continued: "By the same token I got er message fur ye, Jim, in case I
run up agin ye on my way down to Squawpan, where I gotter meet a party
that's bound up huntin'. Ye won't like to hear it, neither, I kinder
guess, 'cause it's from a feller ye got no use for."

"Cale Martin?" burst involuntarily from the lips of Jim Hasty, while his
face turned a shade whiter under its coat of tan.

"Ther same critter," Hen went on. "He's still runnin' things to suit
hisself up thar around the Eagle chain, an' larfin' at all ther game
wardens in Aroostook county ter stop him ahavin' his way."

"Why should he tell yuh anything tuh say tuh me; an' how'd he know I was
acomin' up this aways?" asked Jim, firmly.

"He sez as how he heerd thet you was agoin' to bring a pack o' boys
along up to the Eagles; p'raps it kim in a letter he hed from somebody,
I don't know jest how thet mout be; but he seemed to know it, all right,
Jim. Sez he to me, 'Hen, ef ye happens to run acrost thet thar measly
little skunk what sails by the name o' Jim Hasty, jest you tell him fur
me thet if he dares to put his foot up hyar in _my_ deestrick, I'm
bound to pin his ears to a tree, and leave 'em thar to give him a
lesson.' An' Jim, I guess from the look he had on thet black face ob
his'n when he says thet, Cale meant it, every blessed word. And if 'twas
me, I'd feel like turnin' back, to take my people another way."

Thad fixed his eyes on Jim's face to see how the shorter guide took it.
He realized that Jim was at least no coward, even though he might fear
the wrath of such a forest bully as the ex-logger, and present lawless
poacher Cale Martin; for he had shut his teeth