“Come ahead then; who’s afraid?” the sentence ended in a mocking laugh.
“I’ll find a stone, and I guess that’ll fetch ye,” muttered Riggs, stooping and feeling about on the ground.
“Ho, ho! better be careful; you might happen to break a window. Good-by; I’m off.”
The voice came from the roof this time, and was immediately followed by a sound as of scrambling and of shuffling footsteps; at first, near at hand, then gradually dying away in the distance.
Meanwhile the captain was fairly shaking with suppressed mirth, and Lulu nearly convulsed with her efforts to control an inclination to burst into uproarious laughter. Max laughed a little when Riggs was talking, but was sober as a judge when the strange voice answered.
Riggs came stumbling up into the porch again, and dropping into his chair, panted out, “Well, if that isn’t the beatenest thing ever I hearn tell on! how that fellar could git away so—keepin’ out o’ sight all the time—is more’n I can understand. I thought I knowed everybody about these diggins, but that there woice didn’t belong to none on ’em. It sounded like the woice of an oldish man, but the villain sartainly did skedaddle equal to any youngster ever I see. Did ye ketch sight o’ him, cap’n?”
“I saw no one but ourselves,” returned Captain Raymond, in a quiet tone.
The four had had the porch to themselves, the other boarders being out, the McAlpine’s at supper. But at this moment the gate opened and several gentlemen—Mr. Short and Mr. Austin among them—came in. Most of them had taken part in the hunt that day, one or two others were old hunters who were interested in the affair and desirous to talk it over with the captain. Also to tell of past experiences of their own.
There were stories told of encounters with panthers, bears, deer, buffaloes, and smaller game; all interesting, some amusing, some thrilling because of danger or death narrowly escaped.
One told by a very old man whose business had been hunting and trapping in the early days when great herds of buffaloes roamed over the plains of the far West, was both thrilling and mirth-provoking.