"I vill haf the law on them!" he shouted. "They shall be shot, efery one! I vill haf mine goots vonce more!"
Not untouched by the suffering of the man, Noel said to him, "I don't think the boys meant anything very bad. They thought you had been charging them too much for what they have been buying."
"I haf not! It vas cheap! It vas all cheap! But I vill tell you. Dat fellow Dennis O'Hara, he it is who has made all dese troubles. I vill gif him no rest. He shall pay me back efery cent vat I haf lost. I shall gif him no rest."
Noel laughed lightly as he turned away, not for a moment taking the threats of the angry man seriously, and if he had been told at the time that the very lives of himself and his companions would depend upon a word of the little trader, he would not have believed the prophecy.
CHAPTER III
INTERCEPTED
In spite of the strict orders which had been issued for preventing foraging, either the memory of the feast for which the pig that Dennis had secured had provided the main course, or the restlessness due to the monotony of camp life, caused the practice to be renewed by some of the more restless spirits. Among these was Dennis O'Hara.
A few days afterward Dennis said to Noel, "Come on, lad, we'll take a walk over these hills."
"What for?" inquired Noel suspiciously.