“So yer the chap as wanted to put me into the guard-house, be ye?” exclaimed Lish, after he had given his prisoner a good looking over. “I?” cried Oscar. “I guess not!” “Wal, I guess ye be,” said Lish, taking something from his pocket and throwing it at Oscar—he was afraid to hand it to him for fear that the boy would seize his gun. He was so big a coward that he dared not meet a youth of sixteen on anything like equal terms. “Read that, an’ see if ye aint.” It was a piece of paper; and, when Oscar picked it up and opened it, he saw that it was the note he had written to his brother on the day he left that bundle of clothing behind the rock. But there were some words in the note that did not belong there—some that related to a fight and a theft, and an attempt that was to be made to arrest the wolfer. Tom had put them there to refresh his memory, and to enable him to read the note twice alike. Oscar saw through it all, and wondered how his brother could be guilty of such an act of meanness, to call it by no harder name. “What do ye say now?” demanded the wolfer, as Oscar tossed the note back to him. “I have nothing at all to say. What are you going to do about it?” “I’ll mighty soon show ye!” Lish almost shouted. “Git outen here. Cl’ar yerself sudden, an’ don’t let me find yer in sight when I come out, nuther!” Oscar, who was so greatly bewildered that he scarcely knew what he was doing, put on his overcoat and cap and left the cabin, the wolfer stepping out of the door and covering him with his rifle as he passed. “Well,” said he resignedly, as he walked slowly toward the brook, “this knocks us. There is no way out of this scrape. The man’s object is revenge as well as plunder, and he’ll not leave us a skin. My rifle, revolver, ammunition, and provisions will all go, too; for what he can’t carry away he will doubtless destroy. O Tom, how could you put him up to such a thing?” Having reached the willows, Oscar found a hiding-place among them, and set himself to watch the movements of the robber. Of course he could not tell what he was doing inside the cabin, but he noticed that he came to the door every few minutes and looked down the valley toward the gorge. Oscar knew that he was watching for Big Thompson, and wished most heartily that the guide would make his appearance. But luck was on the wolfer’s side this time, and he was allowed to proceed with his depredations without being disturbed. After he had been at work in the cabin a quarter of an hour, he came to the door, carrying over his shoulder the plunder he had selected, and which was made up in the form of a pack-saddle.