"That boy is an imp," he said, in a low voice. "I'd not let him talk to me that way if I were you." "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.