“I couldn’t get back without their seeing me, and as I was afraid of them, I slipped inside the hollow.”
“An’ ye war thar all the time, war ye?”
“Yes; all the time.”
“Wal, and what did yur hear?”
“A great deal, father. It’ll take time to tell it all. If you’ll come on into the house, I can repeat better what was said by them. I’m so frightened after what I heard, I want to get away from this horrid place.”
It was a commendable stratagem to secure the retreat of her lover. Unfortunately it did not succeed. The old squatter was too cautious to be so easily deceived.
“O, yes,” he said; “I’ll go ’long wi’ ye into the house; but not afore I’ve fust seed whether thar ain’t somethin’ else in the holler o’ this tree.”
His daughter trembled as he gazed towards the entrance, but her trembling turned to a convulsive agony, as she heard the cocking of his rifle, and saw him point it towards the dark cavity in the trunk.
With a wild cry, she sprang forward, placing herself right before the muzzle of the gun.
Then, in the terrible agitation of the moment, forgetting all else, she shouted: