“We mustn’t neglect anything——”
“Whisht!” interrupted Mike, suddenly laying his hand on the arm of this comrade.
All three became silent, and each distinctly heard faint footfalls from a point deeper in the wood.
“Some one has been listening,” whispered Alvin, “but he couldn’t have heard anything.”
“And what if he did?” asked Chester; “we have no enemies in this part of the world.”
Mike had started in the direction of the suspicious sound. He did not take time to soften the noise of his feet, and the stranger thus warned hurried away. Evidently he was a better woodman than his pursuer, for he got over the ground faster. Mike caught a glimpse of him in the star-gleam, as he emerged on the beach and ran off. A few minutes later the Irish youth rejoined his friends.
“Do you know who it was?” asked Alvin.
“No; he didn’t spake nor look back. I thought it best to return to ye.”
“Why?”
“I hadn’t me shillaleh wid me, and I was in too much danger of overhauling the spalpeen.”