.

THE HUT ON THE ISLET.
Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on the exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless one, had parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade was not coming.
The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept the others away had taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less Sol, master of forest lore and with all the five senses developed to the highest pitch.

Yet his powers had availed him nothing, and the boy again felt that cold chill running down his spine.
Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also, but his instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the thickest of the forest, continuing until he found a place in the bushes so thoroughly hidden that no one could see him ten feet away.

There he lay down and rapidly ran over in his mind the events connected with the four disappearances.

They were few, and he had little on which to go, but his duty to seek his four comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the greater.