"I'll fix you!" cried the old man.
"You let me alone!" pleaded Sammy. "Sic him, Maybe!" he cried, to the dog.
Indeed the hunter's dog needed no urging. At the first sign of the old man Maybe had rushed at him. Now he was tugging at his coat-tails as though to stop him from pushing the boys over the cliff. But the man was strong, and paid no attention to the dog, dragging him along over the slippery snow.
"There you go!" cried Mr. Addison, and with that he shoved Sammy down into the big snowdrift.
"There!" muttered the hermit, with a hard smile on his wrinkled face. "Now I guess them boys won't find out my secret!"
And he walked away into the woods, the dog barking after him.
As for the Fairview boys, they were more frightened than hurt. True, they had been pushed down some distance, but they fell into a soft bank of snow, and, except that it got down their necks, and up their sleeves, as well as into their boots, they were in no danger. It was like falling into a feather bed.
"Whew! What happened?" gasped Bob, floundering about.
"I guess we happened—or it happened to us!" said Frank. "Where's Sammy?"
"Here I am," cried that small hero. "He pushed me, too."