"And it's accepted. Hooray! Now for some Limerick exercise!"

Ere he could be prevented, the Irishman had headed his canoe across
stream, and was paddling with all his might toward the spot from which
the first shot had been fired.

"Stop!" commanded his master. "It is fool-hardiness, on a par with
your general conduct, thus to run into an undefined danger."

Teddy reluctantly changed the course of the boat and said nothing,
although his face plainly indicated his disappointment. He had not
been mistaken, however, in the supposition that he detected the
movements of some person in the shrubbery. Directly after the shot had
been fired, the bushes were agitated, and a gaunt, grim-visaged man,
in a half-hunter and half-civilized dress, moved a few feet to the
right, in a manner which showed that he was indifferent as to whether
or not he was observed. He looked forth as if to ascertain the result
of his fire. The man was very tall, with a face by no means
unhandsome, although it was disfigured by a settled scowl, which
better befitted a savage enemy than a white friend. He held his long
rifle in his right hand, while he drew the shrubbery apart with his
left, and looked forth at the canoe.

[Illustration: He held his long rifle in his right hand, while he drew
the shrubbery apart with his left, and looked forth at the canoe.]

"I knew the distance was too great," he muttered, "but you will hear
of me again, Harvey Richter. I've had a dozen chances to pick you off
since you and your friends started up-stream, but I don't wish to do
_that_. No, no, not that. Fire away; but you can do me no more harm