The man looked round in all directions.

"I see none," he said, "and you may have been mistaken, for the light is
waning fast. It were ill for anyone I caught prying about here. But come
in, sir knight; my hovel is not what your lordship is accustomed to, but we
may as well talk there as here beneath the sky."

The two men disappeared from Walter's sight. The latter in much surprise
crept forward, but until he reached the spot where he had last seen the
speakers he was unable to account for their disappearance. Then he saw that
the spot, although apparently a mere clump of bushes no higher than the
surrounding country, was really an elevated hummock of ground. Anyone might
have passed close to the bushes without suspecting that aught lay among
them. In the centre, however, the ground had been cut away, and a low
doorway, almost hidden by the bushes, gave access into a half subterranean
hut; the roof was formed of an old boat turned bottom upwards, and this had
been covered with brown turf. It was an excellent place of concealment, as
searchers might have passed within a foot of the bushes without suspecting
that aught lay concealed within them.

"A clever hiding place," Walter thought to himself. "No wonder the posse
search these swamps in vain. This is the lowest and wettest part of the
swamp, and would be but lightly searched, for none would suspect that there
was a human habitation among these brown ditches and stagnant pools."

To his disappointment the lad could hear nothing of the conversation which
was going on within the hut. The murmur of voices came to his ear, but no
words were audible; however, he remained patiently, thinking that perhaps
as they came out a word might be said which would give him a clue to the