"Yes, Aleck Rawson. I wanted to see the kid git that mine his dad found years ago; but seems to me the woods is full of people as think they orter have a claim on it, afore the fambly of Jerry Rawson. If so be this ole chap is a uncle to the boy, he's a bad egg; I kin see that in his face. But Sheriff Bob thinks he's doin' the right thing in tryin' to arrest Aleck; and he'll take him away, if he ever lays eyes on him. I say, it's too bad." "If we only could warn them?" said Smithy, disconsolately. "Mebbe we can," remarked Step Hen, eagerly looking at the guide in the same breath, as though it depended a good deal upon Toby whether this idea could be carried out, or not. "Oh! do you really mean it, Step Hen?" demanded Smithy, brightening up; for he seemed to be conscious of a new sense of reliance in the other nowadays, something similar to that he felt in Thad himself; Step Hen had been "doing things," and that alone breeds confidence. "I'm wanting to ask Toby something first, before I promise," remarked the other, cautiously, as became one who valued his word not lightly. "Go on, then; what is it?" asked the guide. "Think hard, please," Step Hen continued, very soberly; "and tell me if you believe you could take me to a place, not a great ways off, where we would be able to see the tents of the home camp, if daylight was here." Toby's face turned into a grin; evidently he grasped the idea that had flashed into the boy's mind. After having seen how Giraffe had "talked" with Aleck by means of "fire flashes," when the Rawson boy was away up on that ledge of the cliff, Toby was ready to believe these wonderful scouts capable of almost anything in the line of "next miracles." "Say, yes, I kin do that same now; that is, if you think you'd be able to climb a leetle bit more," he broke out with. "Oh! I am not all tuckered out yet," declared Step Hen, proudly; "a bit sore from my scratches, and that funny business, when I had to jump around so lively with two savage eagles tryin' to tear my eyes out; but you just show me, Toby, and see if I don't toe the mark, like a scout always should." "I'm sure you will," said Toby, admiringly; and the look on his face gave Step Hen a sense of reward for all he had suffered; in fact he could not remember ever feeling so pleased before, because he knew Toby Smathers was reckoned a prime judge of men, as they ran. "How long would it take us to get up there?" asked Step Hen, carelessly; yet no doubt with more or less anxiety, for he was conscious of the fact that however willing the spirit might be, the flesh was weak; and it meant a double trip, to go and come again. "P'raps half an hour might do it," was the response of the guide. "Up a place like this?" gasped Smithy, pointing to the wall near them. "Well, I should hope not," said Davy Jones. "They'd be crazy to try that sort of thing, with only the moonlight to help."