“It’s the old hermit!” cried Bob.
“Yes! It’s him! it’s him!” cried Kate. “He is safe! We have found him.”
“Be quiet!” cautioned the old man, when he had reached the ground. “There may be spies all around, though I think I have escaped them for the time being.”
“How did you get here?” asked Kate.
“I ran as soon as I heard the noise of men coming after me,” replied the aged man. “But I did not dare get into the hollow trunk, for fear of being seen. So I just crawled up into the branches, and there I’d be yet if the professor had not mistaken me for a specimen.”
“You can come down in safety,” said Mr. Snodgrass, “as there seems to be no one in the neighborhood but ourselves.”
“That’s good,” was the rejoinder, “but there is no telling when some one may come. I think I will go back to my own cabin.”
The hermit started off with Kate, the others following. He had not proceeded far when he uttered an exclamation:
“There is one of them!”