"This half-breed, Bolduc, is another sample of his class," continued Hersey, "and while we have no criminal charge, we can prove we know he is a pot-hunter, and I'll be glad to nab him, for an example. I judge he is lurking about your camp, watching a chance to abduct this girl, and while it's an unusual case, it may serve our purpose nicely--a sort of bait, useful in alluring him into our hands. How we can catch him, however, is not an easy problem. He knows the forest far better than we do; every stream, lake, defile, or cave is familiar to him, and, cunning as a fox, all pursuit would be useless. Our only hope is to patrol the woods about your camp as hunters, or watch for another night visit, and halt him, at the muzzle of a rifle." And now Martin turned the conversation to a more interesting subject--Chip herself. "I saw the girl at Tim's Place," Hersey said, "and knowing her ancestry, felt curious to observe her. She appeared bright as a new dollar and a willing worker for Tim. Of course, it seemed unfortunate that she should be left to grow up there without education; and while her natural guardian being an outlaw gave the State an ample right to interfere, the proper officer has never seen fit to do so. It has been a case of 'out of sight, out of mind,' I presume, and while we have a law obliging parents to send their children to public schools so many months a year until a certain age, this is a case where no one has seen fit to enforce it." "But what about her parents?" queried Martin, curious on this point. "Do you know whether they were legally married?" "Why, no-o, only by hearsay," Hersey responded. "I've been told her mother was a Nova Scotia girl, a mill worker in one of our larger cities, and as no one ever hinted otherwise, I think it safe to assume that they were married. If not, there would surely have been some one to spread the sinister fact. It's the way of the world. I presume Tim knows the girl's history, but he is such a surly Irishman that I never questioned him. In fact, his surroundings, as you may have noticed, do not invite long visits." But no visit or even halt at Tim's Place was now considered advisable. In fact, as Levi said, it was best to pass that spot at midnight. This suggestion was carried out, and in five days from leaving the settlement, Martin and the officers made their last camp at the lake where he had once seen a spectral canoeist. CHAPTER X "A swelled heart may cost ye money, but a swelled head'll cost ye ten times more."--Old Cy Walker.