"I ain't goin' to," answered Josiah Graham. "Andy, you open thet door, or I'll bust it in!"

"Don't you dare break down the door!" answered Andy, in increased alarm.

"If you do--I'll--I'll--Well, remember, I've got my gun--and it's loaded, too."

"Don't ye shoot! Don't ye shoot!" yelled Uncle Si, in sudden terror, and he backed away several steps. "Don't ye dare! Oh, was ever there sech a boy!"

"Do you think he'd dare to shoot?" asked the real estate dealer.

"I dunno. He's got lots o' spirit sometimes."

"Maybe we had better try to reason with him."

"All right." Josiah Graham raised his voice. "Andy, this is all--er--foolishness. Come out o' there."

To this the youth did not answer. He was considering what he had best do next. He did not want to shoot anybody, and he was afraid that the two men would in some manner get the better of him and take away the papers.

"Andy, do ye hear me? Come out--I ain't goin' to hurt ye."

"You'll take those papers away from me."

"He is going to sell me the papers, and at a good price," broke in A. Q.

Hopton.

"I don't want to sell--to you," answered Andy. He was moving around the bedroom rapidly, having decided on a course of action.

"I'm your guardeen, an' I know wot's best," broke in Josiah Graham.

"Open the door, an' no more foolin' about it."

"I don't recognize you as my guardian," was Andy's reply. As he spoke he tiptoed his way to the window and opened it. Then he threw out a small bundle, and his gun and game bag followed.

"I am your guardeen!" stormed Josiah Graham. "You open the door!"

Instead of answering, Andy pushed a chair to the window. In another instant he had mounted it, and then he crawled through the opening. He landed in a heap in the snow, and scrambled up immediately. With bundle, gun, the game bag in his possession, he ran back of the shed and then down the road leading to the village.

At that minute he did not know where he was going, or what he was going to do. He had the precious papers in his pocket, and his one idea was to keep these away from his uncle and Mr. A. Q. Hopton.

"I'll not go back until I've stored the papers in a safe place," he told himself, finally. "I wonder who would keep them for me without asking too many questions?"

Although the sun hung low in the west, it was still light, and reaching a turn in the road, Andy stopped to look back. Much to his chagrin, he saw that his flight had already been discovered.

"They are coming after me!" he murmured, as he saw the horse and cutter flash into view. His uncle and the real estate dealer were on the seat, and the latter was urging the horse into a run through the heavy snow.

Unfortunately for Andy, there was but one road in that vicinity, and that ended at the Graham cabin. On all sides were the pine woods, with their scrub timber and underbrush, still partly laden with the fall of snow of the week previous.

"If I stick to the road they'll catch me sure, and if I leave it I'll have to go right into the woods, and they'll easily see my trail," he reasoned.

He broke into a run, and thus managed to pa.s.s another bend of the highway. Behind him he heard the jingle of the sleighbells as the cutter drew closer. In a few minutes more his pursuers would be upon him.

"I'll chance it in the woods," he muttered, and, reaching a spot where the undergrowth was thick, he leaped between the bushes and then walked on to a clump of pines. He was barely under the pines when he heard the cutter dash past. The men were talking excitedly, but he could not make out what was being said.

As the jingle of the sleighbells grew more distant, another thought came to Andy's mind, one that made him smile grimly in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

"Might as well return and get something to eat," he told himself. "They won't come back right away."

It did not take him long to retrace his steps to the cabin. The cutter, with its occupants, had kept on towards the village, so he had the place entirely to himself. He quickly found something to eat and to drink, and made a substantial meal. Then he placed a few more of his belongings in his bundle.

"It won't do for me to stay here as long as I have the papers with me,"

he told himself. "I guess I'd better try to get to the old Smith cabin for tonight. Then I can make up my mind what to do in the morning."

The Smith cabin was a deserted place nearly a mile away. To reach it, Andy had to tramp directly through the woods. But the youth did not mind this, for he had often been out hunting in the vicinity.

"I might get a shot at something," he mused. "A rabbit or a couple of birds wouldn't go bad for breakfast."

He lost no time in striking out. Half the distance was covered when he saw a big rabbit directly in his path. He blazed away, and the game fell dead. Then he caught sight of a squirrel, and brought that down also.

"Now I'll have something besides crackers and bacon when I'm hungry," he told himself, with satisfaction.

Soon he came in sight of the old Smith place. Much to his surprise, smoke was curling from the chimney, and he saw the ruddy glare of an open fire within.

"Somebody is here," he thought. "Some hunter most likely. Wonder who it can be." And he strode forward to find out.

CHAPTER IV

CHET GREENE'S PAST

"h.e.l.lo, Andy!"

"h.e.l.lo, Chet! I never expected to find you here! This is a real pleasure!" And Andy rushed into the old cabin, threw down his luggage, and grasped another lad by the hand.

"And I never expected you to come here tonight," said Chetwood Greene, as a smile lit up his somewhat square face. "I thought I was booked to camp here alone. What brought you, hunting?"

"Not exactly. It's a long story, Chet. Say, I'm glad you have a fire.

I'm half frozen from tramping through the woods. The snow was pretty deep in spots."

"I know all about it, for I have been out all day. Here, draw up to the blaze. I was just getting supper ready. You've got some game, I see. I had very little luck--three rabbits and a wild turkey. I looked for deer, but it was no use."

"You've got to go pretty well back for deer these days," answered Andy.

"Thought you were going to strike s...o...b..rgh for a job."

"So I did, but it's the same story everywhere."

"Too bad! Well, you are no worse off than myself. I'm sick of even asking for work. I've about made up my mind to try my luck at hunting. I guess I can bring down enough to live on, and that's better than starving."