Another rattler?"

"No." Rube shivered. "_That!_" And he turned over and pointed with
an agitated finger at a human skull and a heap of crumbled bones.
"It's a man's skeleton. And you notioned as nobody 'd ever set foot in
this forest before!"

CHAPTER XI

LESSONS IN TRACKING

"Queer!" ejaculated Rube, standing up and contemplating the gruesome
remnants of the skeleton. "Mortal queer it is. Can't make it out.
How'd he come ter be fixed up thataway in the middle of the tree, dyin'
thar all lonesome, like a poor critter caught in a trap? How'd it
happen, Kiddie?"

He appeared to expect Kiddie to tell him off-hand exactly how the thing
had occurred.

"Dunno," returned Kiddie, with a grave headshake. "It's a mystery.
I'm trying t' think it out. What way was he fixed?"

"Can't just say," Rube answered slowly. "Inside the tree's like a
chimney. You c'n see daylight if yer looks up, as I did. I couldn't
see that it was a man--a skeleton. Thar was a mass of honeycomb an'
wax below what was left of his feet. I reached up an' seized hold o'
somethin'. Guess it was one of the poor chap's legs. I was pullin' at
it, an' pullin', when my foot slipped, an' the whole concern came down
on top o' me, crumblin' into dust. How d'you reckon he got thar? Kin
y'u explain?"

"Seems to me," said Kiddie, after a long pause, "that there are three
possible explanations. First, that he was killed by some enemy and
shoved in there out of sight: which ain't at all likely, since it would
have been much easier to fling the body into the lake, and quite as
safe from discovery to leave it lying here in the forest glade.
Second, that he was escaping from some other Redskins, or even from
some dangerous wild animal, and went into the hollow tree for safety."

"Climbin' too high, an' gettin' fixed so as he couldn't wriggle out
again either up or down?" suggested Rube.

"Exactly," nodded Kiddie. "But, if that was the way of it, why didn't
his pursuers get on his tracks and find him? I'm not of opinion that
he had any pursuers, either animal or Indian. I believe he was just a
lone scout--a trapper, maybe, but a lonesome wanderer, anyway--and that
he was taking shelter from a storm. Perhaps he knew of that hollow
tree: perhaps he came upon it by chance. It was a convenient shelter
in either case. That's my third point."

"An' a reasonable one," commented Rube. "But it don't account fer how
he came t' be fixed in