"Perhaps I can explain some things, Miss Wenrich. But I would like to talk with your father first." "Very well. But my father is quite sick, and I would not like to have you excite him." "I will be careful. But I hope he didn't let them have the map." "No, he is holding that. They made a proposition to him and he said he would think it over." Nettie Wenrich led the way to the second story of the cottage, and to the front bedchamber. Here, on a snowy couch lay Herman Wenrich, feeble with age and a malady that had attacked his digestive organs. "I do not wish to disturb you, Mr. Wenrich," said Robert, after introducing himself and shaking hands. "But I think it very strange that I should come here right after those two men I met outside." "It is strange, lad," responded Herman Wenrich feebly. "I cannot understand it." "I think I can safely say that Mr. Amberton never sent them and that he knows nothing of their coming," continued our hero. "That makes the whole thing even more strange." "They wish to get a certain map from you--a map of some lumber lands in upper Michigan." "Yes, yes, there is but one map," cried Herman Wenrich. "I have kept it safely for years." "Papa, please do not excite yourself," pleaded Nettie Wenrich, coming to the bedside. "I am not excited, my child." "I do not know a great deal about the matter," continued Robert. "But I do know that those two men, Le Fevre and Hammerditch, are Mr. Amberton's enemies and not his friends." "Can you prove that?" For the instant the youth was nonplussed. Then he thought of Dick Marden's letter. "Here is a letter I got from Timberville," he said. "You can read that." "My eyesight is poor. Nettie, read the letter." At once the daughter complied. Herman Wenrich listened attentively. "Ah, yes, I remember this Marden now," he said slowly. "He was the son of Amberton's youngest sister. Where does he come from?" "He belongs in California and is a rich miner. But he was brought up down east--in Vermont, if I remember rightly." "Exactly--he is Grace Amberton's boy. A good fellow, too--if he takes after his mother. So Amberton is sick and has put Dick Marden in charge. Then what those two men told me is a--a string of falsehoods." "You can see what I am authorized to offer you for the map," said Robert. "I started for here with the money in my pocket----" "Stop, Mr. Frost. You do not understand old Herman Wenrich. I am not thinking to sell the map." "But you are willing to see justice done to Mr. Amberton, are you not?" "Yes, yes--full justice--for he deserves it. He could have had the map before, but it affected some land of mine--which I have since sold." "Then you will let him have the map!" exclaimed Robert, much delighted. "I will pay----" "Not a cent, my lad, not a cent. He can have it and welcome. But--but----" "But what, sir?" "I must be dead sure, as they say, of what I am doing. You look honest enough, but so did those men."