mike murphy’s ready wit did not desert him at the moment when, as may be said, he discovered he was caught between two fires. one of the tramps was standing on the ground in front or below him, while the second was approaching from the rear or only a few paces farther off. and hoke butler, who should have been instant to rush to the help of his friend, was nowhere in sight.

“i say, docther, why don’t ye hurry up?” shouted mike, as if calling over the head of the grinning hobo, whose eyes were fixed upon him with a dangerous expression, as if he had decided to even up matters for previous humiliations.

the peremptory manner of the lad produced its effect, and saxy hutt paused and looked up at him. a scratching, rattling noise caused mike to turn his head. biggs 148was furiously climbing the logs on the other side. grasping the topmost one, he dived over, sprawling upon his hands and knees, instantly leaping to his feet, and making off at the speed he had shown in his former flight. he evidently believed in the near approach of the man whom he dreaded.

mike swung around on his perch, so that his feet hung outside, and gazed calmly down upon the repulsive face.

“the top of the morning to ye, saxy,” greeted the lad; “i hope ye are well.”

“huh! yer needn’t try that bluff on us,” growled the scamp; “it won’t work; thar ain’t no doctor round these parts and i wouldn’t care a hang if there was. i owe you one, younker, and i’m going to take it out of your hide.”

to tell the truth, mike was pleased to hear this declaration. biggs, whom he regarded as the worst of the couple, had taken himself off and need not be considered further, so that it was one against one, and the youngster had a firm grip on his shillaleh. with a fair field and no favor mike was content to let the best man win.

the tramp came nearer, clenched his fists and glared upward at the youth.

“come down out of that and i’ll wring your neck fur yer.”

“step a little closer, so i can reach ye wid a single jump.”

mike was actually gathering his muscles for a leap that would have brought on a fight as vicious as that of two wildcats, when the tense stillness was broken by the words:

“right this way, doctor; you’ll find them both here, your shots can’t miss.”

now the peculiarity of this remark was that although plainly heard, it sounded as if the speaker meant that only the man at his side should catch his words. and it was at this juncture that hoke butler did a thing so clever that it won the everlasting admiration of mike murphy. the former dropped his voice several notes, so that one unacquainted with the facts, would have been certain it was another who was speaking.

“show me a sight of them—just for a minute: that’s all i ask!”

mike heard and understood. saxy heard 150and misunderstood,—that is he believed it was the physician who was looking for him with a loaded weapon in hand. he muttered an exclamation which it will never do to print, plunged around the log structure, and disappeared with a speed that must have quickly overhauled the other tramp.

mike dropped lightly to the ground and confronted the chuckling hoke.

“worra! but ye did that well. where is the docther?”

“how should i know? i suppose he’s at his home.”

“what put it into yer head to make believe he was near us?”

“i don’t know except he was the first person i thought of.”

“ye couldn’t have done better if ye had took a month. i don’t understand why thim tramps hang round so much whin they know what they’re likely to git from dr. spellman.”

mike now told hoke of the surprising incidents of the preceding day, when the hobos received the scare of their lives.

“this one who calls himsilf biggs told 151me that whin he looked over the side of the canoe, he found himsilf face to face wid the devil.”

“do you think he did, mike?”

“i have me doubts, as jerry jinks said whin father macmahon declared he was an honest man. anyhow i haven’t larned what i wanted to know, and we’ve got to look farther.”

it was decided to pass around the western end of the lake, circling back in the direction of dr. spellman’s home, past the cabin of uncle elk and go on to the bungalow. this was likely to take most of the day, even if they were not delayed by some unexpected occurrence. moreover, this course would take them by the spot where mike had heard voices the night before, and where the hermit darted out from under the overhanging vegetation on his return, going so near the startled mike that the two saw each other. the old man and his visitors appeared to have gone thither, and it would seem that something ought to be doing.

“would you like to know what my idea is?” asked hoke, when they resumed their tramping on the line that has been indicated.

“i’m that anxious to know that i won’t take anither step till ye ixplains the same.”

and mike, who was a few paces in advance, halted abruptly, wheeled about and faced his companion, who grinningly responded:

“it is that we keep going till we reach dr. spellman’s house and accept his invitation to dinner.”

“suppose we don’t get the invitation,” suggested mike.

“i should like to see him avoid giving it, even if the dinner hour is past, which it is likely to be before we can reach his place.”

mike’s rugged health and sturdy strength gave him as keen an appetite as that of his companion, and a good meal would be as welcome to him-as to hoke. moreover, the situation was such that they could hardly hope to reach the clubhouse before nightfall. he therefore inclined to the plan of calling at the house where they were sure of welcome, but it will be borne in mind that in order to do this, they would have to give over or at least postpone the investigation they had intended to make at the point where mike had heard voices 153and seen uncle elk the night before, since this lay to the westward of the physician’s camp.

accordingly the youths turned deeper into the wood, going well beyond sight of the lake, intending to approach their destination by a circuitous course. not wishing to run against uncle elk and the strangers, they made sure of not doing so.

you need not be reminded that one of the easiest things in the world is to lose your way in a wilderness. mike murphy seemed peculiarly subject to this misfortune, as has been shown in the previous pages. he kept in the lead, as he had done from the first, his friend quietly following and paying no attention to his own footsteps. by and by it struck hoke that it was time they reached the doctor’s dwelling. he looked searchingly ahead and around, but saw nothing except the tall, column-like trunks, with considerable undergrowth here and there. naught that resembled the most primitive dwelling was in sight, nor was there a sign of any person having passed that way.

“hold on, mike!” he called abruptly to his friend, and the latter halted and looked back.

“i’m doing that, and what is it ye want of me?”

“where are we?” asked the puzzled fellow.

“i’m thinking we’re here, as i remarked whin i fell off the house. what do ye think?”

“of course we are somewhere near gosling lake, but i believe we have strayed off and are lost.”

“it’s mesilf that don’t see how that can be, though i can beat any gentleman that walks on two legs in going the wrong way. the first time i started to go upstairs, i opened the cellar dure and bumped all the way to the bottom, and when i was faaling me way fur the cellar dure, i tumbled out the parlor windy. then mither sent me on an errand to widow mulligan’s and instead of stepping onto the porch, i put my fut over the well curb and didn’t find out the difference till i hit the bottom of the well. so you see, hoke, that that wakeness is my strongest p’int.”

“where do you think the lake lies?”

“i’m not as far gone as that; head that way and you’ll walk straight onto the same.” mike pointed his shillaleh to the left, whereupon his friend laughed.

“just what i expected; you’re away off.”

“what do ye make it,—since you saam to think you can make no mistake?”

“i never lose my bearings,—you can depend on me. that direction leads to the lake.”

the joke of it was that hoke instead of deviating more or less from the course pointed out by mike, chose one that was the opposite.

“are ye in airnest?” asked mike.

“never more so.”

“i’m glad to larn that, for i don’t like such jokes, as jim o’hara said whin the policeman broke his club over his head. ye are wrong.”

“i’m positive i am not.”

“and i’m positive ye are,—and the only way to sittle the question according to common sinse is to toss up. what do ye say?”

“i don’t see how that can settle any question; but have it your own way.”

mike took a lincoln penny from his pocket and balanced it in his hand.

“if it comes down a hid, ye take my course; if a tail, yours.”

hoke nodded to signify he agreed, and the other flipped the coin aloft, each watching as it turned over rapidly and fell upon the leaves between them, but lo! it rested on its edge, being supported vertically against a pine cone. in other words it was neither a head nor tail, but a “cock.”

usage requires that in such a case a new toss must be made, but when mike picked up the penny he shoved it into his pocket and shook his head.

“the maaning of that,” he explained, “is that we are both wrong.”

“how then shall we find the true course?”

“make a guess, as i used to do in answering the taycher’s questions—hist!”

before the experiment could be made, they were startled by hearing the report of a gun or a pistol from some point not far off, though the direction was different from either that had been indicated.

as they listened, a second, third and fourth report rang through the forest arches, 157followed quickly by two more, and all was still.

there might be several explanations of the incident, but it was idle to spend time in guessing, when it was easy to learn the truth. mike, followed by his friend, walked rapidly toward the point whence the reports had come, and a few minutes later everything was clear.

dr. spellman was standing in a space free from undergrowth and practising with his revolver. with his knife he had gashed the bark off a sapling several feet above the ground, so as to show a white spot the size of a dollar. standing a dozen or more paces distant, he aimed carefully and put the whole six bullets within a spot not more than two inches in diameter, three of them being bull’s eyes.

“i couldn’t do better mesilf!” exclaimed mike, when he understood the feat.

“you can’t tell till you try; i am not sure you are not an expert.”

“nor am i, though i have me doubts.”

having reloaded the weapon the doctor handed it to mike, who slowly raised his arm to a level, shut one eye, and squinted 158some seconds over the short barrel, while the doctor and hoke, standing a foot or two to the rear, kept their eyes upon the little white spot in the distance. then a sharp crack sounded and the marksman lowered the pistol.

“did ye obsarve where me shot landed?” he asked of his friends.

“i think it nipped the leaves somewhere overhead,” replied hoke.

“i scorn to notice yer slur: what do ye say, docther?”

the physician said nothing, but walked to the sapling, the others trailing after him. taking out his pocket knife, he began digging with the blade into the soft wood. from the very center of the white spot, he gouged out a pellet of lead, and held it out to mike.

“that is yours; you made a perfect bull’s eye.”

“av course; did ye doubt i would do the same?”

“hooh! all chance! you can’t do it again,” called hoke, uttering a truth that was as apparent to mike as to the others.

“it’s yer turn,” replied the hero of the 159exploit; “do ye make the attempt yersilf; if ye can equal me, then i’ll take me turn again.”