“Have no fear,” said the hermit. “I will call Kate and she will take you back, just as she brought you here.”
“But I thought she was—” began Uriah Snodgrass.
“That is only a notion of hers, that I am a murderer,” spoke the hermit, with a smile. “Kate pretends to be very much afraid of me, but she will come to me when I call her. Probably you are wondering who I am, and why I live out in these lonely woods. If you care to I will tell you my story briefly.”
They all said they would be glad to listen, so the hermit began by saying, for reasons of his own, that he would not tell his name.
“I do not want it to be known who I am,” he said. “But, as I said, I was once in the power of a number of bad men. I used to be a prospector, and made considerable at it, until trouble came. Then I came to this lonesome place. I had heard the legend of Lost Lake, and the gold supposed to be on its shores, but I never expected to find this body of water. However, I did come across it, though I never have found any gold. I have been here ever since, and that is about three years. I manage to hunt and fish, and so get enough to live on. Occasionally I go to the nearest village, and sell a few articles I make out of wood, and so get a little money.”
“I should think you would be very lonesome at times,” said Bob.
“I am glad to be alone when I think of all I suffered from those men,” was the reply.
“Would you mind telling us about the woman?” asked Mr. Snodgrass. “She seems a queer creature.”
“She is,” answered the hermit. “She is harmless enough, except when aroused, and her great trouble is in thinking that I am a murderer.”
“What makes her think such a thing?” asked Jerry.