Jolly Roger's eyes
had grown very bright, and suddenly he dropped on his knees beside
Peter, and spoke softly, close up to his flattened ear.
"You say it isn't a wolverine, Peter? Is that what you're trying
to tell me?"
Peter's teeth clicked, and he whimpered, never taking his eyes
from ahead.
There was a cold light in Jolly Roger's eyes as he rose to his
feet, and he turned swiftly and quietly into the edge of the
forest, and in the gloom that was gathering there his hand carried
the big automatic. Peter followed him now, and Jolly Roger swung
in a wide circle, so that they came up on that forest side of the
cabin where there was no window. And here Jolly Roger knelt down
beside Peter again, and whispered to him.
"You stay here, Pied-Bot. Understand? You stay here."
He pressed him down gently with his hand, so that Peter
understood. Then, slinking low, and swift as a cat, Jolly Roger
ran to the end of the cabin where there was no window. With his
head close to the ground he peered out cautiously at the door. It
was closed. Then he looked at the windows. To the west the
curtains were up, as he had left them. And to the east--
A whimsical smile played at the corners of his mouth. Those
curtains he had kept tightly drawn. One of them was down now. But
the other was raised two inches, so that one hidden within the
cabin could watch the approach from the trail!
He drew back, and under his breath he chuckled.
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