As the individual asked this question in the same loud voice, he unhesitatingly stepped from behind his concealment and began walking toward the one that had used him as a target. Ned accepted this proceeding as a proffer of good will, and although he was not quite satisfied, yet he began descending the tree, so as to be on the ground to meet him. He had barely time to acquaint Jo and Rosa Minturn with what had occurred, when the stranger appeared at the base of the tree and seemed not a little surprised to meet another young man with his handsome sister. The new-comer was a man apparently in middle life, with a yellow, shaggy beard, reaching nearly to his eyes, dressed in rather tattered garments, that had more of the look of the farmer than the military about them. His face, so far as it could be seen, was by no means a pleasing one; the eyes were of a gray color, but with a strange, restless glitter. His appearance would lead one to set him down as a vagabond settler--one who was so lazy that he spent the greater part of his time in hunting the woods for game, or searching the streams for fish. He was sharply scrutinized as he came to view, while he, in turn, keenly surveyed the fugitives. If he were a settler, as he appeared to be, there was not one of the three who remembered seeing him before. To Jo Minturn there came a faint impression that he had met him at some time, though he could not recall where or when it was. But the stranger quickly recovered from the temporary embarrassment he showed upon finding himself confronted by three, where he expected to see only one person. "Well, now, I am glad to meet you," he said, in a hearty way that suggested the Mr. Perkins whom they had met when on the other side of the river. "I cotched sight of that young man climbing a tree, though I couldn't satisfy myself for a long time whether he was a friend or foe. I suppose you know me, don't you?" Ned answered for the others: "I have no recollection of having ever seen you before." "Why, I remember you very well. You are Ned Clinton, and that young gentleman is Jo Minturn, with his sister Rosa." "You are certainly right, as far as that goes, but you are none the less a stranger to us for all that!" "My name is Worrell, and I am a settler, living about a mile up the river. I have often seen your father--both of them--at Forty Fort." "That, I suppose, is where you have met us, also?" "Yes, and at your homes near there. I do a great deal of hunting, and have sold Mr. Minturn and Mr. Clinton a good deal of game." "How is it you didn't recognize me when you saw me in the tree?" "I couldn't make sure, because I couldn't get a fair look at you." "How is it, too, that you are abroad at this time, when the Indians and Tories are playing havoc in the valley?"