This put a different face on the matter. Fifty cents was very good pay for an afternoon’s work, and Harry at once decided that he could not let slip so good an opportunity. “If you think my company will be worth that to you,” he said, “I am quite willing. How long do you want to stay?” “I intend to return in time for supper.” “Then it won’t be necessary to go home and tell my mother where I am going.” “Oh, dear, no! You will be back before she has time to miss you.” “When do you want to go?” “At once. I will go in and get my gun and be with you in a moment.” “Unexpected things seem to happen to me pretty often,” thought Harry. “I never expected we should have an uncle of Mrs. Ross as a boarder, and here is Philip’s intimate friend hiring me as a guide. Somehow, my destiny seems to be closely connected with Philip’s, though we are about as far from being friends as any two boys can be.” “Is any one going with you?” asked Harry when Congreve came out of the hotel with his gun. “No one except you.” “I don’t know where Philip is this afternoon,” said Congreve carelessly. Harry rather wondered whether Philip and his companion had had a quarrel. It would not have surprised him very much, for Philip was quite in the habit of quarreling with his associates. “How far is it to the edge of the woods?” asked Congreve. “About a mile and a half.” “Quite a good distance. However, it’s early, and we shall have time enough.” Part of their course lay through the fields and meadows. As they neared the woods, suddenly Congreve said, in a tone of well-counterfeited surprise: “Why, there is Philip Ross sitting on a rock! I wonder what brought him here? Hello, Philip!” CHAPTER XIII — THREE YOUNG SPORTSMEN Philip turned and surveyed the newcomers in apparent surprise. “Are you out gunning?” he asked. “Yes. I have secured a guide, as you see, fearing I might get lost in the woods. I believe you know him?” “I have that honor,” said Philip, superciliously. This was so much in Philip’s ordinary style that Harry did not dream there was any collusion between them, and that Philip was here by appointment. “You haven’t explained how you happen to be here,” said Congreve. “I? Oh, I had a little headache, and I thought I would take a walk in the fresh air.” “Won’t you join us?” asked Congreve. “I don’t know,” said Philip, irresolutely. Harry, supposing his indecision might spring from a dislike to his presence, here spoke up: “Perhaps you won’t want me any longer, as you have met Philip.” “Oh, yes I do. He may not care to stay with me all the afternoon, as he has a headache.” “Probably I shan’t be with you more than half an hour,” said Philip. “I’ll walk a little way into the wood.” “Come along, then.” So the three passed into the woods together, Congreve in the middle, with Philip on one side and Harry on the other.