Peter knew nothing of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police.

But he sensed danger, and he remained very quiet, without moving a muscle of his head or body, while the stranger looked about, with a hand on his unbuttoned pistol holster.

Not until he entered the cabin, and closed the door after him, did Peter move back into the deeper gloom of the forest.

And then, silent as a fox, he skulked through cover to the foot-trail, and down the trail to the ford, across which Jolly Roger would come from Cragg's Ridge.
There was still half an hour of daylight when Jolly Roger arrived.

Peter did not, as usual, run to the edge of the bank to meet him.