demanded the major, with concern and surprise.

"So it would seem. I can see no other--though I did think Michael might
be somewhere near me, in the woods, here; I at first mistook your
footsteps for his."

"That is a mistake"--returned Willoughby, levelling a small pocket spy-
glass at the Hut--"Mike is tugging at that gate, upholding a part of
it, like a corner-stone. I see most of the faces I know there, and my
dear father is as active, and yet as cool, as if at the head of a
regiment."

"Then I am alone--it is perhaps better that as many as possible should
be in the house to defend it."

"Not alone, my sweet Maud, so long as I am with you. Do you still think
my visit so ill-timed?"

"Perhaps not, after all. Heaven knows what I should have done, by
myself, when it became dark!"

"But are we safe on this seat?--May we not be seen by the Indians,
since we so plainly see them?"

"I think not. I have often remarked that when Evert and Beulah have
been here, their figures could not be perceived from the lawn; owing, I
fancy, to the dark back-ground of rock. My dress is not light, and you
are in green; which is the colour of the leaves, and not easily to be
distinguished. No other spot gives so good a view of what takes place
in the valley. We must risk a little exposure, or act in the dark."