Page 213 (1/1)

At noon the clouds broke, and an hour later the sunshine was strea down from a cloudless heaven, beneath which the forest lay clear before us, naught stirring save shy sylvan creatures to whom it mattered not if red man or white held the land

Side by side Diccon and I hurried on, not speaking, keeping eye and ear open, proposing with all our will to reach the goal we had set, and to reach it in tiht oppose It was but another forced ers manifold, and had lived to tell the tale

There was no leisure in which to play the Indian and cover up our footprints as we made them, but e ca water, and kept it company for a while The brook flowed bets, thickly set, already green, and overarching a yard or more of water Presently it bent sharply, and we turned with it Ten yards in front of us the growth of s ceased abruptly, the low, steep banks shelved doards to a grassy level, and the stream widened into a clear and placid pool, as blue as the sky above Crouched upon the grass or standing in the shalloater were some fifteen or twenty deer We had come upon them without noise; the wind blew froht There was no alar them before we should throw a stone or branch into their midst and scare them from our path

Suddenly, as we looked, the leader threw up his head, , and was off like a dart, across the stream and into the depths of the forest beyond The herd followed A rass and the troubled waters; no other sign that aught living had passed that way

"Noas that for?"we had best not take to the open just yet"

For answer I parted the s, and forced ainst the bank, andhireen twigs swung into place again, shutting us in with the black water and the leafy, crureen dirass, with small fear that we ourselves would be seen

Out of the shadow of the trees into the grassy space stepped an Indian; a second followed, a third, a fourth,--one by one they caht, until we had counted a score ortherass and the muddied water As they crossed the stream one stooped and drank from his hand, but they said no word and made no noise All were painted black; a few had face and chest striped with yellow Their headdresses were tall and wonderful, their leggings and linted in the sunshine, and their quivers were stuck full of arrows One by one they glided from the stream into the thick woods beyond We waited until we knew that they ere deep in the forest, then crept from the s and went our way