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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1807, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia. Vol. I. Written for Burke’s Weekly. MASOONER’S ISLAND ; OR, Dr. Gordon in Search of His Children. BY REV. P . R. GOXJLDING, Author of “ The Young Marooners.” CHAPTER X. THE ENCAMPMENT —OWL-IIOOTS —A NIGHT SCOUT —MORE SHOOTING THAN WAS BAR- GAINED FOR. m pertaining to it, bad Jfl&Y been effected with an e J e ho concealment tL and defence. Not on ly had the tire for distilling [their water and cooking their supper, been kindled in a concealed place, and been fed with dry sticks and twigs which gave the greatest amount of beat with the least of smoke and flame, but the barge was concealed behind a pile of sea-weed and other stuff, brought in from sea and lodged against a mass of hardened shell - rock on shore; and the two tents, pitched in the very heart ot the cedar thicket, were covered with a coat of leafy branches, so thick as to conceal the white canvass that peered above the dwarfy growth around. Soon after the animated conversation recorded in the preceding chapter had subsided, and when the men began to listen for the command, “All to quarters !” the hoot of an owl was heard from the neighboring forest, followed a few seconds afterwards by an answering hoot from the coast above, each seeming to be at the MACON, GrA., SEPTEMBER 29, 1867. distance of a quarter of a mile. The sound was so perfectly in keeping with the country that it would probably have passed unnoticed had not Tomkins, in a casual glance at Wildcat, observed the coal black eye of the young Indian fixed upon him with glistening, uneasy gaze. Its meaning was too plain to be misinter- preted, and yet the basis of its intended report was so slender that lomkins le solved to trouble no one with it but him self. He simply announced to the others that he was going out to reconoitre a little before “turning in,” charged the Corporal with the command during his absence, and asked Dr. Gordon to allow him, in the meanwhile, the company ot Wildcat. Then shouldering a musket, and motioning to his young companion to do the same, he thrust a night-glass into his bosom, and passing the sentinel, who was posted in a concealed place on the bluff, he moved rapidly, but silently, along the beach in the direction from which the last hoot had come. “ So you think those were not owls we heard ?” he said interrogatively to Wild. cat, in a low murmur, as soon as they were alone. “Hot owl,” was the re ply, “but red man in the bush, and red man by the water.” “\ r ou think the men in the canoes are on our trail?” he asked again. “ Think so,” was the la conic answer. “ I should like to find out how many of them there are,” Tomkins said. As he spoke, there was another hoot from the woods back of the encamp ment, followed by another reply from the beach. “ Can make canoe come here, if Sergeant say so,” Wildcat intimated. “ How ?” Tomkins asked. “Wildcat will talk like red man in the bush,” he replied. « Did you notice the dif ference in the two cries? and can you hoot like each ? Wildcat grunted assent in true Indian style, then, in a low tone, imitated the two cries, saying, “ Red man in bush say, 00-00-uh-00-oo! and red man by watei say, 00-00-00-00-uh !” “ That is well done,” Tomkins said in admiration of the boys power of imita tion. “I will tell you very soon if it is best to bring them.” No. 13.