bold enough, but he's too reckless for a hunter. There

was no need for that yell, now--none at all."

Having uttered this sagacious remark, he threw his

rifle into the hollow of his left arm, turned round, and

strode off with a long, slow step towards his own cottage.

Blunt was an American by birth, but of Irish extraction,

and to an attentive ear there was a faint echo of the

brogue

in his tone, which seemed to have been handed

down to him as a threadbare and almost worn-out heirloom.