The Man of the Forest

ore miserable as she more fully realized her situation. The night now became so dark that, although the head of her horse was alongside the

isgivings. But she was agreeably surprised, for the horse, Ranger, had an easy gait, and she found she had not forgotten how to ride. Bo, having been used to riding on a

hapes in the gloom ahead, and always they gave Helen uneasiness, until closer approach proved them to be rocks or low, scrubby trees. These increased in both size and number as the horses progressed. Often Helen looked back into the gloom behind. This act was involuntary and occasioned her sensations of dread. Dale expected to be pursued. And Helen experienced, along with the dread

horse. Dale had halted ahead, and apparently was listeni

t?" whispe

ard a wolf,"

f's?" asked Bo. "I

e foot-hills," said Dale. "Fe

guess being near froze was what

oo, but-" He

here or back home, snug in bed-

aimed Hele

be right here on this

ned an instant, then slapp

she welcomed an almost imperceptible lightening in the east. Then the stars paled. Gradually a grayness absorbed all but the larger stars.

he gray lifting mantle of night, rose in the foreground, and behind was gray space, slowly taking form and substance. In t

up with Roy," said Dale,

y driving them. The cold wind was so keen in Helen's face that tears blurred her eyes and froze her cheeks. And ridin

what becomes of-me!" exc

out in bright, unruly strands. Helen knew she felt some of the physical stimulation that

from which patches of scrubby trees-cedars, Dale ca

slopes, where the snow s

hen began to climb another foot-hill. Upon surmounting it Helen saw the rising sun, and

away to a dense ragged line of forest that rose black over range after range, at last to

o. "But they ought to be

is white half the y

ee what you say,

rt! Verily it yawned away from her, red and gold near at hand, growing softly flushed with purple far away, a barren void, bor

pointing. "Thet's Snowdrop. An' the othe

e?" queried H

er the foot-hills at

riding awa

four days' ride. An' by takin' to the mountains Milt can hide his tracks.

ll get us there safely-and s

omise safe. An' I don't like be

ng to eat?" inqu

fully in the light, and it was thin and hard, darkly bronzed, with eyes like

. "Soon as we reach the ti

take a good rest," said Dale, and

e dwarf cedars, and the ravines opening out as if by magic from what had appeared level ground, to wind away widening between gray stone walls, and farther on, patches of lonely pine-trees, two and three togethe

un rose higher, and it gained sweeter tang of forest-land. The first faint suggestion of that fragrance was utterly new to Helen, yet it brought a vague sensation

meandered, and he followed this around to the left, coming at length to a point where cedars and dwarf

ile," he said. "Re

ut not tired y

had apparently lost the power to do. Bo laughed at her,

surprised to find him lame.

Only broke my collar-bone, five ribs,

s he stood there tall and lithe in his homespun, ragge

d Dale. "If you ain't stiff yet, you'll be soon. An' walkin

etected a cleanliness and thoroughness she had scarcely expected to find in the camp cooking of men of the wilds. Moreover, the fare was good. She ate heartily, and as for Bo's appetite, she was inclined to be as much ashamed of that as amused at it.

more, "this isn't believable. I'm dreaming.... Nell,

urely. There was little evidence of hurried flight. Yet Helen could not cast off uneasiness. Roy might have been deep, a

the girls. "We've got forty

about, petting the horses and prying in

e they cleaned up the utensils and pa

'll strike my trail this

do," re

you figure t

f you was Snake Anson?

. "Although it's likely I'd seen them wheel tracks an' hos

boys face to face day before yesterday

n' or hearin' about

way, what's the difference whether he

tin' a fight if Anson

in'-scrape a year ago, have been sort of gun-shy. Joe might get riled. But I recko

e sure they'd be in sight if they find our tracks this mornin'. Makin' sure one

Helen was watching Dale, so that when Bo cried out in great excitement Helen turned to see a savage yellow little mu

at for a wild pon

of the way of the infuriated mustang

nd over hand, on the lasso. Buckskin showed the whites of his eyes and also his white teeth. But he stood whi

ting the knot. "He's never had a brid

ide him?" qu

Roy, with a smile. "Would

e," answe

ks like a devil. But I'd tack

he West had found qu

kon I'll not let you-for a

somethin' po

. You me

rec

pony Bo rode, the rest of the horses had actually to be roped and hauled into camp to be saddled and packed. It was a job for fearless, strong men, and one that called for patie

ounted, and said, significantly: "Roy, I'll

. Let's hope for the best. We've been shore lucky so far. Now

, and followed. Soon Roy and his buckskin-colored

nd down and from side to side. The sun felt warm at Helen's back and the wind lost its frosty coldness, that almost appeared damp, for a dry, sweet fragrance. Dale dro

er. Probably the growth had to do with snow, but, as the ground was lev

e into t

tly were what Roy had meant by pine-mats. Here and there a fallen monarch lay riven or rotting. Helen was presently struck with the silence of the forest and the strange fact that the horses seldom made any sound at all, and when they did it was a cracking of dead twig or thud of hoof on log. Likewise she became aware of a springy nature of the ground. And then she saw that the pine-mats gave like rubber cushions under the hoofs of the horses, and after t

any adventure, and Helen knew surely now that Bo was a true Auchincloss. For three long days Helen had felt a constraint with which heretofore she had been unfamiliar;

drive the horses and hold them in rather close formation. She rode well, and as yet showed no symp

wever, began to be seen here and there, and in the course of an hour's travel became abundant. The only one with which she was familiar was the chipmunk. All the others, from the slim bright blacks to the striped russets and the white-taile

descried several gray deer standing in a glade, motionless, with long ears up. They made

s regular conformity. Toward noon, however, it gradually changed, a fact that Helen believed she might have obs

he imagined, with regret, that she had taken cold. But presently her head cleared somewhat and she realized that the thick pine odor of the forest had clo

t. After it did come, with a terrible flash, it could be borne by shifting or easing the body. But it gave no warning. When she expected it she was mistaken; when she dared to breathe again, then, with piercing swiftness, it returned like a blade in her side. This, then, was one of the riding-pains that made a victim of a tenderfoot on a long ride. It was almost too much to be borne. The beauty of

under the trees, and the forest gradually changed to a brighter,

he crossed a number of these and followed along the last one into a more open place in the forest where the pines were huge, towering, and far ap

Dale. "We camp here. Y

that all those little streams p

k," cried Bo with her

forget your first dri

e did get to the ground her legs appeared to refuse their

e, anyhow?" she dema

replied Dale, as he led

who still sat her horse, loath to try dis

r an eloqu

like a wicked, long darning-needle,

n, profiting by Bo's experience, she dismounted cautiously,

girls went tow

w," called

, from which came a hollow subterranean gurgle and roar of water. Its fo

nd they sipped a mouthful, by Dale's advice, and because they were so hot and

ent steal all through her, wonderful in its cool absorption of that dry heat of flesh, irresistible in its a

ink of our-old spring-in the

losed eyes, while a memory of home sti