oned by his brother, was now exalted perhaps to be the only
survivor! He could scarcely credit his senses. It was too much!

To creep through the brush while the preliminaries were being settled,
reach a certain silver fir on the appointed ground, and with the aid of
his now lucky hatchet, climb unseen to its upper boughs, was an exciting
and difficult task, but one eventually overcome by his short but
energetic legs. Here he could not only see all that occurred, but by
a fortunate chance the large pine next to him had been selected as the
limit of the ground. The sharp eyes of the boy had long since penetrated
the disguises of the remaining masked men, and when the long, lank
figure of the master's self-appointed second took up its position
beneath the pines in full view of him, although hidden from the
spectators, Johnny instantly recognized it to be none other than Seth
Davis. The manifest inconsistency of his appearance as Mr. Ford's second
with what Johnny knew of his relations to the master was the one thing
that firmly fixed the incident in the boy's memory.

The men were already in position. Harrison stepped forward to give the
word. Johnny's down-hanging legs tingled with cramp and excitement.
Why didn't they begin? What were they waiting for? What if it were
interrupted, or--terrible thought--made up at the last moment? Would
they "holler" out when they were hit, or stagger round convulsively as
they did at the "cirkiss"? Would they all run away afterwards and leave
Johnny alone to tell the tale? And--horrible thought!--would any
body believe him? Would Rupert? Rupert, had he "on'y knowed this," he
wouldn't have gone away.

"One"--

With a child's perfect faith in the invulnerable superiority of his
friends, he had not even looked at the master, but only at his destined
victim. Yet as the word "two" rang out Johnny's attention was suddenly
attracted to the surprising fact that the master's second, Seth Davis,
had also drawn a pistol, and from behind his tree was deliberately
and stealthily aiming at McKinstry! He understood it all now--he was a
friend of the master's. Bully for Seth!

"Three!"

Crack! Z-i-i-p! Crackle! What a funny noise! And yet he was obliged to
throw himself flat upon the bough to keep from falling. It seemed to
have snapped beneath him and benumbed his right leg. He did not know
that the master's bullet, fired in the air, had ranged along the bough,
stripping the bark throughout its