But he
recovered himself and walked on faster than ever. The cabins thinned
away, and he saw before him bushes. His keen hearing brought to him
the soft sound of the pursuing footsteps. Now he took his resolution.
There were few games at which two could not play.
He passed between two bushes, came around and returned to the open.
But he returned with one of the pistols cocked and levelled, his finger
on the trigger. Shepard, pursuing swiftly, walked almost against the
muzzle, and Harry laughed softly.
"Well, Mr. Shepard," he said, "you've followed me well, but as I've no
mind to be hung for a spy or anything else, I must ask you to go back."
"You have the advantage at present, it is true," said Shepard, "but what
makes you think I was going to shoot at you or have you seized?"
"Isn't it what one would naturally expect?"
"Yes--perhaps. But I could have given the alarm while you were still in
the city. I speak the truth when I say I do not know just what I had
in mind. But at all events the tables are turned. You hold me at the
pistol's muzzle and I admit it."
He smiled and the boy could not keep from liking him.
"Mr. Shepard," said Harry, "what you told me at Montgomery was true.
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