Somet'n sure gwine happen to dis niggah." "Nonsense!" retorted Nora sharply.
"If you don't brace up and behave yourself, something surely will happen to you," warned Lieutenant Wingate.
"I believe the boy really did hear something," declared Grace as she gazed at the trembling lad before her.

"Tom, please look there where he was sitting, will you ?" Tom Gray rose and started to obey her request.

At this juncture the bushes parted, and a man, faintly outlined in the light from the campfire, stepped into view.
Wash saw him and, uttering another yell, made a break, but Hippy, on the watch for this very thing, caught and held him.
"Behave yourself or I'll let the fellow have you," he warned.
Tom hesitated, then stepped forward to meet the stranger.

He saw a man apparently of early middle age, smooth-shaven, wearing long iron-gray hair that hung below his sombrero, the locks curling slightly at the bottom.

The eyes that regarded Tom were keen and twinkling, full of good nature and humor.
"Well, sir, who are you ?" demanded Grace's husband.
"Who am I?
You will be surprised when I tell you.