e had
agreed to share.

"Looks as if he might have come over in the steerage of a cattle ship,
inside a rawhide, don't he?" assented the other, who was Chick. But
neither Chick nor Patsy was at all assured that this new arrival was
their chief, and they determined to play their parts to the end, or, at
least, until they were absolutely certain.

In reality Nick Carter looked like a Sicilian bandit in hard luck. He
certainly looked the Italian part of it, all right; but even among his
rags there was some display of color, which an Italian is never happy
without.

When the other referred to him in this slighting way, he raised his eyes
sullenly toward them, and he also released his hold upon the food he was
eating long enough to finger the hilt of his knife suggestively; for
Nick was aware of the fact that not one of the three was sure of his
identity, and he preferred not to make himself known just yet.

"Me understands da Inglis you spik," he muttered, in a sort of growl.
"Better hava da care wota you say dees times. I hava da bunch uh banan
in da tree ifa you want more chuck. Go getta it--you!"

He drew his knife quickly and leveled the point of it at the one whom
the others had already christened 'Laughing Willie'; but Ten-Ichi,
nothing daunted by the implied threat, only shrugged his shoulders, and
went on eating.

"Go getta da banan, or I slice you up fora de chuck," repeated the
supposed Italian, rising slowly from his seat by the fire and advancing
toward Ten-Ichi; but he had not taken a step before he found himself
looking into the muzzle of a pistol, and Patsy, in his capacity as host
over the meal, said sourly:

"Sit ye down, dago, or I'll make a window of your liver. We're three
friends enjoying a feast, and you're welcome to part of it if you want
it, but if you make any more breaks, out you go--feet first, if you
prefer it that way."

The Italian subsided with a grunt, and the meal continued undisturbed
until all but Ten-Ichi, who appeared to have been really very hungry,
had drawn back from the fire; and then it was that Chick made the remark
about his hurrying that was mentioned in the beginning of this story.

But Nick had in the meantime managed to make it known to the others who
he was, although he had said no word in reference to it. They each one
of them knew that there might still be others concealed in the trees or
somewhere near at hand watching them. There was no telling how many
pairs