His first movement was to feel for his rifle, which he had brought with him in his descent, and which he found close at hand.  In the act of rising, he caught the sound of a footstep, and saw, at the same instant, the outlines of a person that he knew at once could be no other than the man whom he had been pursuing.  The hunter was about a dozen feet distant, and seemed perfectly aware of the Irishman’s presence, for he stood with folded arms, facing his pursuer.  The darkness prevented Teddy’s discovering anything more than his enemy’s outline But this was enough for a shot to do its work.  Teddy cautiously brought his rifle to his shoulder, and lifted the hammer.  Pointing it at the breast of his adversary, so as to be sure of his aim, he pulled the trigger, but there was no response.  The gun either was unloaded, or had been injured by its rough usage.  The dull click of the lock reached the ear of the target, who asked, in a low, gruff voice: 

“Why do you seek me?  You and I have no quarrel.”

“A purty question, ye murtherin’ haythen!  I’ll settle with yees, if yees only come down here like a man.  Jist play the wolf and belave me a sheep, and come down here for your supper.”

[Illustration:  “A purty question, ye murtherin haythen!”]

“My quarrel is not with you, I tell you, but with your psalm-singing master—­”

“And ain’t that meself?” interrupted Teddy.  “What’s mine is his, and what’s his is mine, and what’s me is both, and what’s both is me, barring neither one is my own, but all belong to Master Harvey, and Miss Cora, God bless their souls.  Don’t talk of quarreling wid him and being friendly to me, ye murtherin’ spalpeen!  Jist come down here a bit, I say, if ye’s got a spick of honor in yer rusty shirt.”

“My ill-will is not toward you, although, I repeat, if you step in my way you may find it a dangerous matter.  You think I tried to shoot you, but you are mistaken.  Do you suppose I could have come as near and missed without doing so on purpose?  To-night I could have brought you and your master, or his wife, and sent you all out of the world in a twinkling.  I’ve roamed the woods too long to miscarry at a dozen yards.”

Teddy began to realize that the man told the truth, yet it cannot be said that his anger was abated, although a strong curiosity mingled with it.

“And what’s yer raison for acting in that shtyle, to as good a man as iver asked God’s blessing on a sunny morning, and who wouldn’t tread on one of yer corns, that is, if yer big feet isn’t all corns, like a toad’s back, as I suspict, from the manner in which ye leaps over the ground.”

“He knows who I am, and he knows he has given me good cause to remind him of my existence. He can tell you, if he chooses; I shall not.  But let yourself and him take warning from what you already know.”

“And be the same token, let yourself be taking warning.  As sure as I’m the ninth son of the seventh mother, I’ll—­”