on the brink of the gorge, and confronted by a figure in buckskin, who stood leaning on a long, double-barrel shot-gun.  Archie started back in dismay, and so did the boy in buckskin, who turned pale, and gazed at the fugitive as if he were hardly prepared to believe that he was a human being.  He speedily recovered himself, however, and after he had let down the hammer of his gun, which he had cocked when the ragged apparition first came in sight, he dropped the butt of the weapon to the ground, exclaiming: 

“Archie Winters!”

“Benedict Arnold!”

For a moment the two boys stood looking at each other without moving or speaking.  Archie was wondering if it were possible for him to effect the capture of the traitor, and Arthur, while he gazed in astonishment at the fugitive’s tattered garments and bloody face, was chuckling to himself, and enjoying beforehand the punishment he had resolved to inflict upon Archie.  The opportunity he had wished for so long had arrived at last.

“I have found you, have I?” said Arthur, resting his elbows on the muzzle of his gun, and looking at Archie with a triumphant smile.

“Well, suppose you have; what do you propose to do about it?”

“It is my intention to teach you to respect a gentleman the next time you meet one.”

[Illustration]

“How are you going to do it?”

“In the first place, by giving you a good beating.”

“Humph!” said Archie, contemptuously, looking at Arthur from head to foot, as if he were taking his exact measure.  “It requires a boy with considerable ‘get up’ about him to do that.”

“None of your impudence, you little Yankee,” exclaimed Arthur, angrily.  “I’m going to take some of it out of you before you are two minutes older.”

When the traitor selected Archie as the one upon whom he could wreak his vengeance without danger to himself, he had made a great mistake.  Archie was smaller than most boys of his age, but, after all, he was an antagonist not to be despised.  He was courageous, active, and as wiry as an eel; and his body, hardened by all sorts of violent exercise, was as tough as hickory.  He trembled a little when he looked over into the gorge, and thought of the possible consequences of an encounter on that cliff, but he was not the one to save himself by taking to his heels, nor did it come natural to him to stand still and take a whipping as long as he possessed the strength to defend himself.  A single glance was enough to convince him that the traitor was in earnest, and Archie watched the opportunity to begin the struggle himself.

“Yes, sir,” continued Arthur, “I’ve got you now just where I want you.  I am going to settle this little difference between us, and then I shall take you back to Pierre.  If you have any apologies to make, I am willing to listen to them.”