CHAPTER XIV
THE TWO DESPERADOS
"Don't shoot, sir! It's just me!" Jamie piped in terror from the tree.
"It's only a kid!" Bill swore an oath of disgust and lowered his rifle. "You git down out'n that tree! Git down quicker'n lightnin', too!"
"I'm comin', sir!" came Jamie's frightened voice from the tree-top.
Jamie lost no time in descending from his perch and in a moment stood trembling before his captors. It was quite dark now and snowing hard, and to the frightened little lad the two big lumbermen loomed up like giants.
"What you doin' here?" demanded Bill with an oath as he seized Jamie's arm with a grip that made the lad wince.
"I were—I were huntin' for the cache," confessed Jamie.
"Goin' to steal our cache, was ye? Well, we'll teach you to leave other folkses things be!" The man gave Jamie a savage shake. "Tryin' to steal our cache, eh? Who set you on to it? That's what I want to know! Who set you on to stealin' it, now?"
"I weren't goin' to steal un, sir," chattered Jamie, horrified at the implication that he was a thief.