“She got away from me,” said Roy. “I’m sure that’s the one I chased, but she gave me the slip all right. I was so hot after her that I came near shooting——”
He stopped abruptly, his mouth open as he looked around for the mysterious stranger. To his astonishment, the man had disappeared.
CHAPTER III.
THE HOME OF THE SAGES.
“Well, what do you know about that?” muttered Hooker wonderingly. “He’s gone.”
“Who?” questioned Fred, reaching the road.
“The man—the man I was talking with. He was sitting right here on this stone when I came sneaking down through the woods, and I almost shot his head off. He rose up into view just in time. Where the dickens has he gone?”
In both directions a strip of road lay in plain view, but, save themselves, there was no human being to be seen upon it.
“When did he go?” questioned Sage.
“After you fired; while I was watching for you to come out of the woods. He was right here within five feet of me. I can’t understand how he got away so quickly without my knowing it. He must have put off into the woods on the other side.”
“What made him do that?”