Drawing a pistol from my belt, I fired into the tree and listened carefully; but there was neither sound nor movement, save where the bullet tore its way.
"Dead, sure enough!" exclaimed my father.
"Well, we will prove it now," said I, though far from certain of the risk we ran in doing so.
Soon we had the ladder reared against a lofty branch: then, taking a pistol in my hand, I climbed up cautiously into the tree.
At first I could see little, by reason of the thickness of the foliage; but as I neared the top 'twas quickly evident that Tubal Ammon was not there. Some broken twigs betrayed the place where he had sat; but that was all the sign there was of him.
"Well!" cried my father from below. "What see you, Michael? Is he there?"
"No, sir; he is not here," I answered. "'Tis as I thought--we have been fooled; our bird has flown."
"Well, well; no matter," said my father, with, methought, a touch of disappointment in his voice. "'Twere better so than that he should be hanging."
"Be none so sure of that," I murmured to myself, descending quickly to the ground. And there we stood and faced each other, like the beaten men we were.
"Dost know who he was?" enquired my father with a searching look.