With his gun over his shoulder Joel Runnell continued to advance until he was crossing the small clearing directly in front of the house, which was an old affair, a story and a half high, and containing but four rooms. The place looked to be closed and deserted. “Hullo, Ike Slosson,” sang out the old hunter, when within fifty feet of the doorway. “Hullo, I say!” Scarcely had he called out when there was a commotion in the house. He heard a shuffling of feet and some excited talking. “Go away!” cried a high-pitched voice. “Go away, I say! I want no strangers around my house! Go away!” CHAPTER XXVII A PLAN FOR A CAPTURE The words used were those which Ike Slosson had often uttered when folks of that neighborhood came around his house and he did not wish to entertain them. As Joel Runnell had said, the old man was very peculiar and at times he refused utterly to see even those he knew to be his friends. For strangers he had no welcome whatever. He knew old Runnell, however, and had treated him better than he had many another man. The hunter had once given him some fine rabbits and a partridge, and this had won Ike Slosson’s heart. Joel Runnell halted, but did not retreat. The shuffling of several pairs of feet had not escaped his sharp ears, and now those ears told him that it was not Ike Slosson who was speaking, but somebody who was trying, in a crude manner, to imitate the hermit. “I say, go away!” came in the same voice. “I want no strangers here.” “Whose place is this?” asked old Runnell, calmly. “It is my place, and I want you to go away, or I’ll set the dog on you.” This reply made Joel Runnell smile to himself, for he knew very well that Ike Slosson despised dogs and would never have one near him. “Who are you?” “Never mind who I am. I want you to go away.” “Won’t you sell me a supper?” “No. I have hardly enough for myself.” “I’ll pay you well.” “Can’t help it. I have nothing to sell. Now go away, or I’ll put out the dog.” “Don’t send out your dog; I’ll go,” cried Joel Runnell, in pretended alarm, and then turning, he made his way to the shelter of the trees. “How did you make out?” whispered Joe. “Hush! don’t speak,” said the old hunter, warningly. “Crawl back, or somebody may see you.” The boys moved to a safe place, and then clustered around the old hunter for information. Joel Runnell was chuckling quietly to himself. “Thought they’d play a joke on me, didn’t they?” he said. “But I’ll soon have the boot on the other leg.” “What do you mean?” asked Harry. The old hunter then told of what had been said. “It wasn’t Ike Slosson who was speaking at all,” he added. “It was some other man, and his voice was thick with liquor. I’ve a notion those fellows have done something to Slosson and taken possession of his house and all of his goods and money.” “Can they have killed the old man?” asked Link, in quick alarm.