Page:November Joe.pdf/79

 "The robbers," I corrected.

"There's but one," said he.

"Michaels mentioned two voices; and the man in the mask stepped into sight at the same moment as the fire glinted on the revolver of the other man in the bushes."

Without a word November led me to the farther side of the dead fire and parted the boughs of a spruce, which I had previously seen him examine. At a height of less than five feet from the ground one or two twigs were broken, and the bark had been rubbed near the trunk.

"He was a mighty interesting man, him with the revolver." November threw back his handsome head and laughed. "There was only one chap, and he fixed the revolver here in that fork. It was a good bluff he played on Dan, making him think there was two agin' him! The rain's washed out most of the tracks, so we'll go up to Camp C and try our luck there. But first I'd best shoot a deer, and the boys'll think I only come to carry them some meat, as I often do when I kill anywhere nigh the camp."

As we made our way towards C, November found the tracks of a young buck which had