“Hello, Ferret,” he greeted the newcomer. “What’s up?”
The man did not reply at once. Instead, he put out a hand for a cup of the scalding coffee, placed it to his lips and drained it without a pause.
“Hot stuff!” muttered Johnny.
“Very hot!” agreed Drew.
The dog has been named man’s best friend. Yet as a hunter he has his handicaps. True, he is a swift runner and can make a great noise. Often by sheer bluff he drives the coyote from the hen roost. Then, too, he can dig. At times he drags a rat from his den and destroys him.
The cat has his good points also. He is sly, patient. For hours he waits beside some enemy’s trail until the great moment comes. Then one swift spring, a cry of surprise and pain, and all is over.
Yet dog and cat alike are powerless before the sly, deep-digging weasel, the mink and the skunk. Only one crafty, half tamed pet of mankind can cope with these. The ferret with his slim, snake-like body, his beady eyes, his prying nose, glides noiselessly into the deepest burrows and sends its denizens rushing from their dark haunts into sunshine and death.
So, too, in the ranks of mankind the ferret is to be found. Lacking in physical strength and prowess, yet endowed with a faculty for discovering hidden dens, the human ferret is ever closely associated with the police. He wears neither badge nor uniform. His name is not on the pay roll. Despised by some, he is feared by many. For it is he who many times brings the evil doer to justice.
The strange person who crept into Johnny’s tent was of this sort. Indeed, so definitely had his vocation been chosen for him by nature that he was known only as “The Ferret.” If he had any other name it had been forgotten.
“The Ferret” had one great redeeming quality. He was a sincere friend of justice. He furnished information only to those who made an honest attempt to enforce the law. He was possessed of an uncanny power. He appeared to read men’s minds. Was an officer a traitor to the cause he had sworn to serve? “The Ferret” knew it on the instant. No information was forthcoming to such a one. Indeed, if he did not watch his step he was likely to feel “The Ferret’s” bite.