"Then it must be that you are afraid of me. All the world seems to fear me. Why is it so? What have I ever done to make men afraid of me?" "Nothing evil, I am sure." "And you are right. It cuts me to have men shrink from me; but they do, and I have become an outcast. There is something wrong about me--I feel it here." His hand was lifted to his head, and his face wore a look of deep distress. He seemed to realize, in an uncertain way, that he was not quite right in his mind. "You have lived so much by yourself that you have grown unsocial," said Frank. "That must be the trouble." Old Solitary shook his head. "That is not it. Listen, and I will tell you something. Uric Dugan hates and fears me. I do not care for that; it gives me satisfaction. Still I do not know why it gives me satisfaction, for it pains me when others shrink away in fear. Dugan would kill me if he could, and still he seems to regard me as one risen from death. Can you tell me why?" He paused, looking at them in an inquiring way. "You can't tell," came swiftly from his lips, as Frank was about to speak. "No one can tell. I do not know myself. My memory is broken into a thousand fragments. Some things I remember well; some things I do not remember at all. There was a time when I was young, and I had friends. Who were my friends? What has happened to rob me of my memory? I believe Uric Dugan can tell me. If I had not believed so, Dugan should have died long ago. Scores of times I have held his life in the hollow of my hand. I have longed to slay him--to kill him for some wrong he has done me. My hand has been held by a power I could not see. A voice has whispered in my ear, 'Wait.' I have waited. For what? I do not know." He bowed his head on his breast, over which flowed his long white beard, and his attitude was one of intense dejection. The boys were silent, wondering at the strange man who had befriended them. Some moments passed. "By going forth early I saw many things," the man finally declared, speaking quietly. "You are not the only ones who have strayed into the net of the Danites." "We have been informed there are others," said Frank. "Informed? How?" Frank told how Miskel had shot the message into the mouth of the cave. "I have seen her hundreds of times," slowly spoke Old Solitary. "She has a good face. It does not seem possible that she is his daughter--the daughter of Uric Dugan. I think the memory of her face has spared his life at times. But it will not be ever thus. The time will come when I shall steel my heart." "We have just seen the Danites bear a captive into their village, and that captive is my guardian." "A small man with reddish hair and beard?" "Yes." "I saw him captured. He had wandered from others. From a height I saw them all." "How many are there?" "There were four, but two of them are Danites." "What's that?" "It is true. The man of the sandy beard and the boy came here with two of Uric Dugan's wretched satellites."