This shaggy little cur was called Toby; it had accompanied the Wolstons on their voyage, and was Mary's exclusive property; but Fritz had found the way to the animal's heart as usual through its stomach, and Mary was in no way jealous of his attentions to her favorite, but rather the reverse.
Fritz, feeling convinced by the actions of the dog, which was of the true Scotch breed, that something extraordinary was passing outside the tent, seized his rifle, hastened out, and was just in time to distinguish a human figure on the opposite bank of the Jackal River, which, on seeing him, took to its heels and disappeared in the forest.
He was soon joined by the Pilot and his brothers; the dogs leaped about them, and the alarm became general throughout the encampment.
Fritz re-established order, enjoined silence, and said, "I am determined this time to follow the affair up; who will accompany me ?" "I will!" said all the four voices at once.
"Scouting parties ought not to be numerous," said Fritz; "I will, therefore, take Willis, in case this mystification has anything to do with the _Nelson_." "And me," said Jack, "to serve as a dessert, in case the individual should turn out to be an anthropophagian." "Be it so; but no more.

Frank and Ernest will remain to tranquilize our parents, in case we should not return before they are up." "And if so, what shall we say ?" "Tell them the truth.

We shall proceed direct to Falcon's Nest; and if the stranger--confiding in our habit of sleeping during the night--be there as usual, we shall do ourselves the honor of helping him to get up." "Providing he does not nightly change his quarters like Oliver Cromwell--not so much to avoid enemies, as to calm his uneasy conscience." "Well, we shall be no worse than before; we shall have tried to restore our wonted quietude, and, if we fail, we can say, like Francis I.at Pavia, '_All is lost except our honor_.'" Some minutes after this conversation, three shadows might have been seen stealing through the glades in the direction of Falcon's Nest.
Nothing was to be heard but the rustling of the leaves--the deafened beating of the sea upon the rocks--and, to use the words of Lamartine, "those unknown tongues that night and the wind whisper in the air." The trees were mirrored in the rays of the moon, and the ground, at intervals, seemed strewn with monstrous giants; their hearts beat, not with fear, but with that feverish impatience that anticipates decisive results.
When they arrived at the foot of the tree on which the aerial dwelling was situated, Fritz opened the door, and resolutely, but stealthily, ascended.
Willis and Jack followed him with military precision.
They reached the top of the staircase, and held the latch of the door that opened into the apartment.
A train of mice, in the strictest incognito, could not have performed these operations with a greater amount of secretiveness.

On opening the door they stood and listened.
Not a sound.

Jack fired off a pistol, and the fraudulent occupier of the room instantly started up on his feet.