"Do you think it safe to leave Miss Grey alone in camp?" he asked gravely. I hadn't thought of that: "No, of course not," I said. "Grue can stay." "I don't need anybody," she said quickly. "Anyway, I'm rather afraid of Grue." "Afraid of Grue?" I repeated. "Not exactly afraid. But he's--unpleasant." "I'll remain with Miss Grey," said Kemper politely. "Oh," she exclaimed, "I couldn't ask that. It is true that I feel a little tired and nervous, but I can go with you and Mr. Smith and Grue--" I surveyed Kemper in cold perplexity. As chief of the expedition, I couldn't very well offer to remain with Evelyn Grey, but I didn't propose that Kemper should, either. "Take Grue," he suggested, "and look about the woods for a while. Perhaps after dinner Miss Grey may feel sufficiently rested to join us." "I am sure," she said, "that a few hours' rest in camp will set me on my feet. All I need is rest. I didn't sleep very soundly last night." I felt myself growing red, and I looked away from them both. "Oh," said Kemper, in apparent surprise, "I thought you had slept soundly all night long." "Nobody," said I, "could have slept very pleasantly during that musical performance of yours." "Were you singing?" she asked innocently of Kemper. "He was singing when he wasn't firing off his pistol," I remarked. "No wonder you couldn't sleep with any satisfaction to yourself." Grue had disappeared into the forest; I stood watching for him to come out again. After a few minutes I heard a furious but distant noise of flapping; the others also heard it; and we listened in silence, wondering what it was. "It's Grue killing something," faltered Evelyn Grey, turning a trifle pale. "Confound it!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to stop that right now." Kemper rose and followed me as I started for the woods; but as we passed the beached boats Grue appeared from among the trees. "Where have you been?" I demanded. "In the woods." "Doing what?" "Nothing." There was a bit of down here and there clinging to his cotton shirt and trousers, and one had caught and stuck at the corner of his mouth. "See here, Grue," I said, "I don't want you to kill any birds except for camp purposes. Why do you try to catch and kill birds?" "I don't." I stared at the man and he stared back at me out of his glassy eyes. "You mean to say that you don't, somehow or other, manage to catch and kill birds?" "No, I don't." There was nothing further for me to say unless I gave him the lie. I didn't care to do that, needing his services. Evelyn Grey had come up to join us; there was a brief silence; we all stood looking at Grue; and he looked back at us out of his pale, washed-out, and unblinking eyes. "Grue," I said, "I haven't yet explained to you the object of this expedition to Black Bayou. Now, I'll tell you what I want. But first let me ask you a question or two. You know the Black Bayou forests, don't you?" "Yes." "Did you ever see anything unusual in these forests?" "No."