"Please speak in a whisper when you have to talk, Frank," replied the other.
"All right," said Frank, doing as he was told, "but please explain what it all means, for we've got a wounded man outside, who had his leg broken by a tree he was dropping, and we wish to bring him in here to make him easy."
"It'll all be over in a short time, I should think," continued Gilbert; "for he ought to be here any minute now."
"Who do you mean?" asked Bluff, like most boys caring naught for grammatical rules when far away from the school room.
"My uncle!" replied Gilbert.
"But why under the sun is Mr. Dennison coming down here to the cabin, and at midnight, too?" asked Jerry.
"That's just it," replied the visitor at the cabin. "I've known for some time that Uncle Aaron is a sleep-walker, you see."
Frank had already grasped the meaning of the situation, but Bluff was still groping in the dark. He proved this by asking:
"But what would your old uncle wander down here for in his sleep, Gilbert, when it must be all of half a mile anyway, and over a crooked trail?"
"I'll tell you what I think," replied the other, in a very low tone. "You see, he understands that I set great store on that gold cup I won, and which I brought up here with me when I came. He had it on his mind after I went away, being afraid some one would steal it."