"You have put your own life and the life of the boy in danger
by so doing. How long had you been watching and listening before I
saw you?"
"A long, long time."
"And you heard much of what was said?"
"I heard a good many words, but I don't remember now what they
meant."
The voices came clearly from farther up the slope, and a little to
the south. The figures of the speakers could not be seen by the
watcher.
"Come up to the camp," the masculine voice said, presently. "I'll
turn the boy over to you, but you can't go back to your cabin
to-night."
"Are you going to keep me here against my will?" asked the trembling
old voice.
"You have seen and heard too much," was the almost brutal rejoinder.
There was a rattle of pebbles as footsteps moved along the rocky
surface of the slope. From above came the shrill cry of a child.
"I don't know of any better time to move up and take a peep at the
camp of the man who crossed the sea to steal a child," Ned mused. "I
wish Frank and Dode would come, but if they don't I'll have to take
chances on going alone."
Keeping those in front of him as guides, Ned crept along the slope.
More than once a loose pebble rolled with a great noise from under
his feet, but those ahead seemed to pay no attention to these
evidences of pursuit.
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