Grace walked away laughing, Jeremiah Long observing her with twinkling eyes, a quizzical smile on his face. CHAPTER IV FOOTPRINTS IN THE MOSS Tom Gray had planned to make an early start next morning, so he was up just before break of day, lighting the cook-fire that Washington had laid for him. Wisps of smoke from the fire were wafted into Grace's tent, awakening her instantly. "Well, Tom, you thought you would steal a march on me, didn't you?" she chided, as she came out unbraiding her hair. "I hoped I might. That was why I said good-bye last night." "You did not think for a moment that I would let you go away without my getting up to see you off, did you?" she wondered. "No. You should have known better than that." "Now that you are here, I will speak what is in my mind. Watch yourself, Grace. That affair last night disturbs me not a little, because it is an indication of what you folks may have to contend with up here. The Kentucky mountaineer is not a gentle animal. He is a man of almost primitive instincts, and the worst of him is that he doesn't come out in the open to settle a grudge, but, as a rule, settles it from ambush." "You forget, Tom dear, that we girls are not tenderfeet, that we are seasoned veterans of the world war and that the whistle of a bullet is not a new nor a particularly terrifying sound to us. I hope you will not worry about us. In three weeks you will be with us. By the way, when did our Mystery Man leave?" "When? Why--I--I didn't know--" "You had not even discovered that he had gone?" chuckled Grace. "Oh, Tom! There are his blankets within a yard of you, neatly folded, and a slip of paper pinned to the top one, probably bidding us good-bye and thanking us for our hospitality. Read it, please." Tom did so and nodded. "Just what you thought it was, Grace. You must be gifted with second sight. About the man Jeremiah Long, who calls himself the Mystery Man, I have a thought that he is the fellow who shot the mountaineer last night." "Tom dear, you're really awake at last, and before breakfast, too. I am proud of you, my husband. Indeed I am," teased Grace. "Don't laugh at me. I will confess that it never occurred to me until a few moments ago. There _is_ something mysterious about the fellow, and I confess that I cannot make him out." Grace nodded and her face took on a thoughtful expression. "He is not only mysterious, but very keen. Last night--I don't know whether or not you noted the fact--he heard that mountaineer approaching, and slipped out of camp. I do not believe he went far, but that where he was he could see and hear all that was going on. Later he must have hurried around to the rear of the camp, and, when the fellow was trying to shoot Hippy, Long put a bullet through our caller's shoulder. I call that good shooting."