Chip, as might be expected, did most of the talking, asked questions as to Tim's Place, when he was there, and what they said about her running away, in rapid succession. Her own adventures and how she came here soon followed, and it was not long before he knew all that was to be known about her. His replies were blunt and brief, after the manner of such. Now and then an expressive nod or grunt filled in the place of an ordinary answer. He knew but little about the recent happenings at Tim's Place, as he had stayed there only one night since Chip departed with her father--as he was told. He had been away in the woods, looking for places to set traps later, and had no idea Chip was here. As to Pete's movements, he was equally in the dark, and when Chip told him what her friends here suspected, he merely grunted. As he seemed to wish to do his own cooking, Old Cy, having completed his task, offered him a partridge and a couple of trout fresh from the ice-house, also pork and potatoes, and left him to care for himself. He became more sociable later, and when supper was over and the rest had, as usual, gathered on the piazza of the new cabin, he joined them. And now came a recital from Ray of far more interest to these people than they suspected. "I saw a bear over back of the ridge this afternoon," he said, "or I don't know but it was a wildcat. I'd just filled my pail with berries, when way up, close to the rocks, I saw something moving. I crouched down back of a bush, thinking it might be a bear, and if it was, I'd get a chance to see it nearer. I could only see the top of its back above the bushes, and once I saw its head, as if it was standing up. Then I didn't see it for quite a spell, and then I caught sight of its back again, a good deal nearer, and then it went into one of the gullies in the hog-back. I didn't wait to see if it came out, but cut for home." "Did this critter sorter wobble like a woodchuck runnin'?" put in Old Cy. "No, it just crept along evenly," answered Ray, "I'd see it when it would come out between the bushes." "'Twa'n't a b'ar," muttered Old Cy, and then, as if the unwisdom of waking suspicion in Angie's mind occurred, he added hastily, "but mebbe 'twas a doe, walkin' head down 'n' feedin'." No further notice was taken of Ray's adventure. The sight of deer everywhere about was a ten-times-daily occurrence, and Old Cy's dismissal of the matter ended it. His thoughts, however, were a different matter. Full well he knew it was no bear thus moving. A deer would never enter a crevasse, nor a wildcat or lynx ever leave the shelter of woods to wander in open sunlight. "I'll go over thar in the mornin'," he said to himself; "I may git a chance to wing that varmint 'n' end our worryin'." And now Angie, more interested in spites and the weird belief which she heard that this Indian held than in the sight of a doe, began to ply Old Tomah with questions, and bit by bit she led him on toward that subject.