[ "FRIZZLE ME IF IT AIN'T KIDDIE OF THE CAMP!" CRIED KEARNEY ]
[ "I'VE GOT HIM, SURE; HE AIN'T GOIN' TER WRIGGLE AWAY" ]
[ KIDDIE REACHED FOR THE SQUARE OF PAPER ]
[ "LOOKS TO ME LIKE SHERIFF BLAGG," SAID KIDDIE ]
[ HE SPOKE TO THE CROWS IN THEIR OWN TONGUE ]
CHAPTER I
THE MYSTERIOUS SNIPER
"A pity Kiddie ain't here along of us, to help. He'd sure tell us if thar's Injuns prowlin' around. My old eyes ain't just what they used ter be for spottin' a crawlin' Redskin from afar. Now, Kiddie had eyes like spy-glasses, hadn't he, Isa? As for his sense of hearin'—well, I allow he c'd 'most hear the grass a-growin'."
Old Man Birkenshaw was peering searchingly through the dim light of the early dawn, expecting at any moment to see the feathered head of a stealthy Indian warrior moving among the deep shadows. From where he lay on the dewy grass beside the crowded horse-corral, with his repeating rifle across his arm, he searched into the darkness of the larch woods and down the misty slopes to the thick line of bushes bordering the hidden creek.