"Ay, indeed! and in some other respects too, not less important, if I am
to judge from your look and bearing. But you mistake your man, let me
tell you. I am not the person whom you can play your pranks upon with
safety, and unless you will be pleased to speak a little more
respectfully, our parley will have a shorter life, and a rougher ending,
than you fancy."

"It would scarcely be polite to contradict so promising a young
gentleman as yourself," was the response; "but I am disposed to believe
our intimacy likely to lengthen, rather than diminish. I hate to part
over-soon with company that talks so well; particularly in these woods,
where, unless such a chance come about as the present, the lungs of the
heartiest youth in the land would not be often apt to find the echo they
seek, though they cried for it at the uttermost pitch of the pipe."

The look and the language of the speaker were alike significant, and the
sinister meaning of the last sentence did not escape the notice of him
to whom was addressed. His reply was calm, however, and his mind grew
more at ease, more collected, with his growing consciousness of
annoyance and danger. He answered the stranger in a vein not unlike his
own.

"You are pleased to be eloquent, worthy sir--and, on any other occasion,
I might not be unwilling to bestow my ear upon you; but as I have yet to
find my way out of this labyrinth, for the use of which your
facetiousness would have me pay a tax, I must forego that satisfaction,
and leave the enjoyment for some better day."

"You are well bred, I see, young sir," was the reply, "and this forms an
additional reason why I should not desire so soon to break our