that to make him change his plans.

Before quitting camp he had asked his chums to leave something in the
line of food, where it could be easily found by a roving man, while out
of the reach of foxes, 'coons, and 'possums. This he meant to be in the
shape of a bait. If the half-starved marooned convict once got it in his
clutch he would undoubtedly make straight for the cabin retreat, there
to devour his prize. And it was while the unknown party was engaged in
this delightful task that Max expected to slip up and fasten the door by
means of the arrangement he had fixed that afternoon, a very simple
affair, too, as it turned out.

Now he could just distinguish the dark blur ahead of him, which he knew
must be made by the cabin itself. As the trees were not quite so dense
overhead in this spot, for once upon a time, many years ago, poor Wesley
Coombs had started to clear around his then newly made log cabin, Max
was soon able to make out the partly open door, just as he had found,
and also left it, so as not to excite the suspicions of his intended
victim.

Then he settled down to watch, hoping that if the man were waiting for a
chance to steal more food, he would soon find an opportunity, and come
hurrying back to dispose of it as before. For Max had found the bone of
their ham, picked clean, in the shack that afternoon when he visited it;
though there had been no sign of any human being around at the time, the
man evidently only sleeping under that old but stout roof.