"Hallo, there!" called out Nick; "wait a minute!"
The individual thus hailed turned about, and looked back to see who it was that called.
As he did so his face was seen, and Nick Ribsam gave utterance to an expression of astonishment.
CHAPTER XIV.
A RECRUIT.
The stranger ahead of the two boys was Herbert Watrous, the city youth upon whom Nick had sat down so hard three years before.
He was unusually tall when visiting the country school, and during the intervening time he had continued to grow upward, until his height equaled that of an ordinary man. He was scarce fourteen years old, but he lacked very little of six feet in altitude.
He was correspondingly slim, so that he looked as if a smart blow on the back would snap him in two. He was arrayed in a most gorgeous hunting suit of green, with all the paraphernalia which the hunter from the city thinks necessary when he honors the country with a tramp for game.