% -*- mode: tex -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
% Converted from RST master
%
\documentclass[a5paper]{book}

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setotherlanguages{english}

\usepackage{xltxtra}

\defaultfontfeatures{Scale=MatchLowercase}
\setmainfont{Libertinus Serif}
\setsansfont{Libertinus Sans}
\setmonofont[HyphenChar=None]{DejaVu Sans Mono}

\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{alltt}
\usepackage{float}

\usepackage{array} % longtable uses array if loaded
\usepackage{longtable}

\usepackage{booktabs} % typographical tables
\newcommand{\otoprule}{\midrule[\heavyrulewidth]}

\usepackage{lettrine} % dropcaps
\usepackage[implicit=false,colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue]{hyperref}
\hypersetup{pdfcreator={Ebookmaker 0.12.48}}
\hypersetup{pdfauthor={E. E. Cowper}}
\hypersetup{pdftitle={Two on the Trail
A Story of Canada Snows}}
\usepackage[open,openlevel=1]{bookmark}

\tolerance 10000  % dont make overfull boxes
\hbadness 1000    % warn if badness exceeds 1000

\catcode`@=11     % make 'private' LaTeX variables public
\catcode`\^^J=10  % don't let empty lines end paragraphs
\catcode`\^^M=10
\catcode`\"=12    % no electric quotes

\setlength{\textwidth} {\paperwidth  * 7 / 9}
\setlength{\textheight}{\paperheight * 7 / 9}

% round textheight to baselineskip
\small\normalsize
\advance\textheight by .5\baselineskip
\divide\textheight by \baselineskip
\multiply\textheight by \baselineskip
\advance\textheight by \topskip

\setlength{\topmargin}     {\paperheight / 9 - \topskip - \headsep - \headheight - 1in}

\setlength{\evensidemargin}{\paperwidth / 9 - 1in}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin} {\paperwidth / 9 - 1in}

% \setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt} % fbox used for debugging

\let\par=\endgraf % elude macro parameter protection

\begin{document}

\newcommand{\parindentamount}{24pt}
\setlength{\parindent}{\parindentamount}
\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\parsep}{0pt}
% \setlength{\topsep}{0pt plus6pt}
\setlength{\footnotesep}{0pt}

% relax float restrictions
\renewcommand{\topfraction}{.85}
\renewcommand{\bottomfraction}{.7}
\renewcommand{\textfraction}{.15}
\renewcommand{\floatpagefraction}{.66}
\renewcommand{\dbltopfraction}{.66}
\renewcommand{\dblfloatpagefraction}{.66}
\setcounter{topnumber}{9}
\setcounter{bottomnumber}{9}
\setcounter{totalnumber}{20}
\setcounter{dbltopnumber}{9}

\setcounter{LTchunksize}{10000} % process tables in one chunk

% latex always wants a numeric parameter to \footnotemark and \footnotetext
% hack to get latex to accept any string as footnote label
\def\@xfootnotemark[#1]{%
   \begingroup
      \unrestored@protected@xdef\@thefnmark{#1}%
   \endgroup
   \@footnotemark}

\def\@xfootnotenext[#1]{%
  \begingroup
     \unrestored@protected@xdef\@thefnmark{#1}%
  \endgroup
  \@footnotetext}


% headers

% HACK! to avoid a page break between labels and section title
% standard secpenalty is -300
\@secpenalty = 0

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{-1} % no automatic section numbering
% \setcounter{tocdepth}{1} we don't use auto toc at present

% \def\pgpageno#1{\marginpar[\hfill\fbox{#1}]{\fbox{#1}}}

% \def\pglineno#1{\@mparswitchfalse\marginparsep-24pt\marginpar{#1}}

\def\sd{\dp\strutbox}

\def\pgpageno#1{\strut\vadjust{\kern-\sd\vtop to \sd{\baselineskip\sd\vss\vbox{\hbox to 0pt{\hss\footnotesize(#1)\kern 18pt}\null}}}}

\def\pglineno#1{\strut\vadjust{\kern-\sd\vtop to \sd{\baselineskip\sd\vss\vbox{\hbox to \hsize{\hfill #1\kern 24pt}\null}}}}

\floatstyle{boxed}
\newfloat{topic}{tbp}{loc}
\newfloat{sidebar}{tbp}{los}

\long\def\centerleft#1{%
  {\sbox\@tempboxa{#1}%
  \ifdim \wd\@tempboxa >\hsize
    #1\par
  \else
    {\centering #1\par}
  \fi}}

\setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{\smallskipamount}

\def\raggedright{%
  \let\\\@centercr
  \advance\rightskip\@flushglue
  \parindent\z@}

\def\centering{%
  \let\\\@centercr
  \advance\rightskip\@flushglue\advance\leftskip\@flushglue
  \parindent\z@\parfillskip\z@skip}

\def\raggedleft{%
  \let\\\@centercr
  \advance\leftskip\@flushglue
  \parindent\z@\parfillskip\z@skip}

\renewenvironment{verse}{\parindent\z@}{}

% insert vertical spacing
\def\vs#1{\vspace{#1\baselineskip}}

% one line of verse
\def\vl{\advance\leftskip48pt\hskip-48pt}

% define environments for most of the
% standard building blocks of a book

\def\startenv{%
  \thispagestyle{empty}%
}
\def\endenv{%
}

\newenvironment{container}{}{\par}

\newenvironment{coverpage_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{frontispiece_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{titlepage_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{verso_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{dedication_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{plainpage_env}{\startenv}{\endenv}
\newenvironment{contents_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{foreword_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{preface_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{introduction_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{prologue_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{epilogue_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{glossary_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{bibliography_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{index_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{colophon_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{pgfooter_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{pgheader_env}{}{}
\newenvironment{appendix_env}{}{}

\newdimen{\tablewidth} % helper

% \tracingpages=1

\frontmatter

\thispagestyle{empty}

{\noindent}
{\centering
{\LARGE\strut{TWO ON THE TRAIL}}
\endgraf}
\par

% this is the default PG-RST stylesheet

% figure and image styles for non-image formats

% default transition

% default attribution

% -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-

\clearpage


% -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-

\label{pg-header}%
\hypertarget{pg-header}{}%
{}\begin{english}
\begin{container}
\begin{pgheader_env}
\vs{2}
{\noindent}
\noindent
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the \hyperlink{project-gutenberg-license}{Project Gutenberg License} included with
this ebook or online at {https://www.gutenberg.org/license}. If you
are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
\par

\noindent
\par

\label{pg-machine-header}%
\hypertarget{pg-machine-header}{}%
{}

\begin{container}
\vs{2}
{\noindent}
\noindent
Title: Two on the Trail
 \\
       A Story of Canada Snows
 \\

 \\
Author: E. E. Cowper
 \\

 \\
Release Date: September 04, 2012 {[}eBook \#40663{]}
 \\

 \\
Language: English
 \\

 \\
\par
\end{container}

\label{pg-start-line}%
\hypertarget{pg-start-line}{}%
{}

\vs{2}
{\noindent}
\noindent
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO ON THE TRAIL ***
\par

\label{pg-produced-by}%
\hypertarget{pg-produced-by}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
\noindent
Produced by Al Haines.
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
\noindent
\par
\end{pgheader_env}
\end{container}
\end{english}

\begin{container}
\begin{coverpage_env}
{}
\end{coverpage_env}
\end{container}

\begin{figure}[h!tbp]
\label{figure-233}%
\hypertarget{figure-233}{}%
\label{cover}%
\hypertarget{cover}{}%
\noindent\hfill{}\begin{minipage}{0.610\textwidth}
{\hbox to \hsize{\hfill\includegraphics[width=1.000\textwidth,keepaspectratio=true]{images/img-cover.jpg}\hfill}}
\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\centerleft{{\itshape{Cover}}
}}

\end{minipage}
\hfill{}
\end{figure}

\begin{container}
\begin{frontispiece_env}
{}\begin{figure}[h!tbp]
\label{figure-234}%
\hypertarget{figure-234}{}%
\label{motionless-before-her-stood-a-figure-wrapped-in-the-usual-indian-blanket}%
\hypertarget{motionless-before-her-stood-a-figure-wrapped-in-the-usual-indian-blanket}{}%
\noindent\hfill{}\begin{minipage}{0.630\textwidth}
{\hbox to \hsize{\hfill\includegraphics[width=1.000\textwidth,keepaspectratio=true]{images/img-front.jpg}\hfill}}
\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\centerleft{{\itshape{Motionless before her stood a figure wrapped in the usual Indian blanket.  p. }}\hyperlink{target-1}{{\itshape{100}}}
}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill{}
\end{figure}

\end{frontispiece_env}
\end{container}

\begin{container}
\begin{titlepage_env}
\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\LARGE\strut{TWO ON THE TRAIL}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\Large\strut{A STORY OF CANADA SNOWS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ BY
 \\
E. E. COWPER}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\footnotesize{AUTHOR or "THE MOONRAKERS," "KITTIWAKE'S CASTLE,"
 \\
"CREW OF THE SILVER FISH," ETC.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY
 \\
W. PAGET}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ LONDON
 \\
THE SHELDON PRESS
 \\
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. 2
 \\
New York and Toronto: The Macmillan Company
 \\
1922}}
\endgraf}
\par

\end{titlepage_env}
\end{container}

\begin{container}
\begin{plainpage_env}
\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CONTENTS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ CHAPTER}}
\endgraf}
\par


\begin{itemize}
\item[I.] 
\vs{2}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-log-house}{{\normalsize{ The Log House}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[II.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{a-surprise-that-brings-suspicion}{{\normalsize{ A Surprise that Brings Suspicion}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[III.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{nell-makes-up-her-mind}{{\normalsize{ Nell Makes up her Mind}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[IV.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-howl-of-the-wolf}{{\normalsize{ The Howl Of The Wolf}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[V.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{little-eyes-has-a-forked-tongue}{{\normalsize{ "Little Eyes has a Forked Tongue"}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[VI.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{green-eyes-in-the-darkness}{{\normalsize{ Green Eyes in the Darkness}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[VII.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{a-midnight-battle}{{\normalsize{ A Midnight Battle}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[VIII.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-mysterious-camp-fire}{{\normalsize{ The Mysterious Camp Fire}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[IX.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{how-the-great-bull-fled-for-his-life}{{\normalsize{ How the Great Bull Fled for his Life}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[X.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-camp-on-the-wolf-s-tooth-rocks}{{\normalsize{ The Camp on the Wolf's Tooth Rocks}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[XI.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-hunters}{{\normalsize{ The Hunters}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[XII.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{the-flight-continues}{{\normalsize{ The Flight Continues}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[XIII.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{a-race-for-life}{{\normalsize{ A Race For Life}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[XIV.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{rifle-shots}{{\normalsize{ Rifle Shots}}}
\endgraf}
\par

\item[XV.] 
{\raggedright
\hyperlink{in-which-the-ice-goes-out-and-the-trail-leads-home}{{\normalsize{ In which the Ice Goes out, and the Trail Leads Home}}}
\endgraf}
\par
\end{itemize}
\end{plainpage_env}
\end{container}

\label{the-log-house}%
\hypertarget{the-log-house}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\LARGE\strut{TWO ON THE TRAIL}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER I}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE LOG HOUSE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
"Do you suppose anything has happened to
him?" asked the boy; "do you, Nell?"\par

He had been asking that question a great many
times a day for a good many days.  Every time
he asked it his sister said, "Oh no, of course not,"
and set about any sort of work to prove she was
not thinking anxious thoughts.  At last, however,
her answer was rather slower in coming, and on
this particular occasion no answer came till David
touched her arm.\par

"Do you, Nell?" he urged.\par

"I don't know.  I shouldn't think so," she said,
but instead of getting busy she sat still and stared
at the red-hot stove, her strong hard hands clasped
round her knees, and a frown on her forehead--actually
doing nothing at all but just think!\par

This state of things was surprising enough to
make "Da," as she called her young brother, more
persistent than ever.  He was a big, strong,
square-shouldered boy of twelve, or thereabouts, and his
sister was to him very much what the Captain of
the First Eleven might be to a boy in an English
school.  She was wonderful.  She could do
anything and everything that he understood and that
came into his life, as well--better than anyone he
knew.  Besides the jobs that men left over--in his
experience--and which Nell did as cleverly as the
mother who had died about five years before.\par

Da had entire confidence in her, and who shall
say he had not a right to, considering all that he
saw and knew about her!\par

She was fifteen; a head and shoulders taller than
himself, and apparently as strong as their father.
Her dark red hair was short as his own.  That is to
say, as short as hair can be where people have no
shops and do their own hair-cutting.  Her eyes
were greenish grey and sharp as the keen, still
eyes of the grey lynx that got trapped once in a
way in the snares set for mink and martens.\par

David admired her hair and eyes with all his
heart, chiefly because she was the only member
of their small family like that--he and his father
having darkish eyes and hair.  Nell was supposed
to have taken after a Scottish ancestress, with a
vigorous character, not after the fair little mother
with yellow hair and blue eyes; and when people
start off like that in an independent manner they
usually take a line of their own all through.\par

In fact, Nell Lindsay was a girl to be trusted;
dependable and clever, which was a very good
thing, because she needed every bit of it in the
present crisis.\par

She and her young brother were alone in the
log house--or shack--more than a hundred miles
from any settlement.  The two nearest were
Abbitibbi House on the lake, away to the
eastward, and Brunswick House, north on Moose
River.  Possibly the distance was equal, and Nell
calculated it at a hundred and fifty miles either way.\par

That is nothing much in a country of railways,
or even of good roads, but it is a long way over
trackless waste, pathless forest, and snow--without
guide, without help from human company.\par

When Nell did not answer David's persistent
questions any longer, it was because she was
thinking about the one hundred and fifty miles--and
more--that lay between the shack and friends.
It was friends she wanted.  There were men nearer
than that, but Nell was not sure they were friends,
and therein lay the whole trouble, you see.\par

Over all that wilderness of forest and waste,
river and lake, there lived trappers who had
marked out certain districts as their own particular
trapping grounds.  Some were Indians, some
white men who had taken up this life for the
freedom and profit of making money by selling
pelts--that is skins--to the traders who bought
them up for the big Companies.\par

It was an understood thing that the trappers
did not poach on each other's grounds.  If they
tried they ran the risk of being shot by the
rightful owner.  They were rough men, and
followed rough laws of their own making.\par

The traders came round in early spring and
bought up the fur.  Or perhaps the trappers
took great bundles of pelts away to the trading
posts, got their money and spent it enjoying
themselves to make up for the hardships of winter.
But Andrew Lindsay was never one of these.
He bought his flour, tea, bacon, and tobacco
from the traders, sold his pelts and kept his
money, so that after a bit it came to be common
talk that he had saved a lot and hidden it in, or
near, the log house.  He was not the sort of man
to imagine that people might think this.  He
loved the wild lands for the beauty and grandeur,
and hated the work of an office and the close life
in towns.  This feeling had driven him north
from San Francisco when he was first married.
Here he had been in the Dominion, winter and
summer, ever since, but he had not lost sight of
the importance of education for his boy, and
the money was saving up for that.  David was
to be an engineer.  The years of work had paid
very well and Nell knew her father's plan.
Also she knew about the money, and that this
was perhaps the last winter they would spend in
the shack among the woods on the steep hills
that ran for over a thousand miles from the
northern frontier of Ontario to the Watchish
Mountains in North-East Territory.  The girl
was content either way.  Whatever her father
decided was right, she thought.  The winter was
coming to an end very soon--it was the last
week in March--and he had gone on his last
round to look at traps on the more distant
runways.  The last, because fur gets thin and poor,
and loses its thick beauty when the terrible cold
of winter is giving before spring.\par

And then, when it was the last thing they would
have thought of, this blow had fallen--Lindsay
had not come back.  He had gone out into the
glittering light of the snowy world, with his gun,
his double-lined fur sleeping bag, and food
enough for four days.  {\itshape{Eight}} days had passed,
and he had not returned.\par

Now that is how matters stood on a certain
afternoon as the grey dusk began to creep through
the trees and close in round the lonely log house.
It was a difficult position for the girl, but she
never for a moment gave way to impatience.\par

This house of theirs was as different from an
English home as could well be--which mattered
not at all to the young Lindsay pair, because they
had no idea what an English house was like.\par

This house was built of rough logs--one big
room in the middle and either end partitioned
off, thus making two small bedrooms.  This
was considered luxurious, as most of the trappers
had but one room in the shack, for sleeping and
eating, and work, too.  The walls were just
rough logs inside as well as out, the cracks
between were stuffed in with mud and the
coarse moss that grows up north.  Over this
skins were hung, on the floor big skins were
laid.  From the rafters bacon hung and onions
grown in the summer.  In the corners stood
sacks of potatoes and flour.  The former is very
important food in a country that is frozen up
about seven months of the year, because when
you cannot get green stuff there is risk of scurvy,
and raw potatoes are the cure for that.  They
must be kept from the least touch of frost, of
course, otherwise they go rotten.\par

On the floor in one corner was a pile of skins
smaller and more valuable than the grey wolf,
the black bear, and the yellow puma of the hills,
that hung on the walls.\par

As Nell sat by the big stove thinking, her keen
eyes wandered from one possession to another.
Finally they rested on the dog and considered
him thoughtfully.\par

Now this dog was not the kind you would
expect to find in a trapper's hut, because he was
close-haired, while the dogs used to pull sledges
in all parts of the north lands have thick coats
and bushy tails.  They are called "huskies" and
have a lot of wolf in their composition.  In the
very far north they train in teams of four up to
twelve and are wonderfully clever at their work,
taking a great pride in it, and refusing to let
other dogs take their place in the line.  But if
they are strong and clever they are also exceedingly
savage, and if one of their number gets badly
hurt--so that he cannot defend himself--they
set upon him and eat him, just as wolves do when
one of the pack is disabled.\par

"Robin Lindsay," as Nell called him, was in
no way that kind of dog.  He was nearly black,
with a broad chest and smooth, close coat.  He
had ears that drooped forward like a hound's, a
wrinkled forehead, and wise brown eyes.  Certainly
he was all sorts of dog, but it was all of the
best, which mattered a great deal in that terribly
lonely place.  Andrew Lindsay had brought him
home one day, four years ago, having bought him
from a man who was going to make an end of
what he thought was a useless puppy.\par

Now he lay on the thick grey skin of a wolf, his
nose between his paws--watching Nell's face with
little twitches of his thoughtful forehead.  He knew
there was something the matter, and waited.\par

"What shall you do, Nell, if Dad doesn't
come back to-night?" asked David, stopping in
his work of carving a tiny little sled out of wood.
"You'll have to do something, shan't you?"\par

Nell got up from her seat on the bench, walked
slowly to the door, slid back the heavy bolt,
opened the door and looked out.  A raw chill
entered and seemed to creep into every corner
on the instant.  Robin rose to his feet, stalked
after his mistress and sniffed the doorstep
enquiringly.\par

"I thought so," said the girl as she shut out
the bitter dusk.\par

"Thought what?"\par

"I thought it was snowing, and it is."\par

"I suppose you mean that will wipe out Dad's
trail?  Is that it?" asked the boy.\par

"It wouldn't make a scrap of difference to
Robin, he'd follow a trail through inches of snow.
You simply can't bluff him.  He always knows.
No, I wasn't thinking about the trail exactly--not
in that sort of way, anyhow--it's not much
good hunting a trail when you pretty well know
where it's going to lead you at the start.  I mean,
Da, that I guess where Dad is.  When I'm
certain I'll tell you most likely.  Matter of fact I
was {\itshape{hoping}} for snow."\par

"You were!"\par

"It'll come in useful if I'm not mistaken,"
said Nell in a conclusive tone.\par

David stared at her, puzzled.  He believed she
was the cleverest girl alive, but he did not even
remotely understand what she was talking about.
On the face of the situation snow was the most
tiresome impediment to any sort of move.  He
knew it might be expected now, because when
the bitterest, glittering frost began to give way
to the cold that comes between winter and spring,
the snow was softer underfoot and falls might be
constantly expected.  Slight as the change was,
the wind had not the same icy breath.  Not that
one felt warmer, on the contrary, the faint tinge
of damp made the air cold beyond description,
but probably there was not quite the same danger
of frost-bite for the face and hands.\par

David knew all these things as a matter of
course.  He had been born and brought up in
the country.  But he did not see what the snow
could have to do with the present trouble!
However, it was better to go on carving his sled than
show ignorance, so he waited, glancing up at his
sister every few seconds, as she paced slowly
away from the stove and back to it again, in a
kind of thoughtful sentry-go.\par

Then Robin growled, deep down in his throat.
He had not settled down again on his bed, but
sat up watching Nell's promenade.  He had
lifted his muzzle and sniffed the air with a delicate,
sensitive movement as though he were feeling
something very gently.\par

Then he growled--very low and deep.\par

\label{a-surprise-that-brings-suspicion}%
\hypertarget{a-surprise-that-brings-suspicion}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER II}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ A SURPRISE THAT BRINGS SUSPICION}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
David sprang to his feet and moved towards
the door.  Neither he nor the girl said or
thought for an instant it might be the missing
man, because they knew the dog would not have
growled in that case.\par

It was either a stranger or someone Robin was
not fond of.\par

In a few seconds the crunch of snowshoes
came to their ears, and then there was a heavy
knock on the door.\par

David gripped Robin by the skin of his neck.
The bristles were standing up along his back,
and the boy's hold would have been but a slight
check had not the animal been very obedient;
he was never savage like a husky.  As Nell went
forward to the door she shifted into convenient
position the little automatic pistol that her father
insisted on her wearing at all times.\par

"Who's there?" she asked, as the knock
came again.\par

"Friend, miss," answered a voice from
outside.  "News of your dad."\par

Now the voice was not only rough, but it had a
foreign tone to it, and Nell's quick mind
instantly jumped to the identity of its owner.\par

"Stenson," she said, over her shoulder to
David, "you know Jan Stenson--the one Dad said
was 'more Finn than Swede.'  He's partner with
Barry Jukes on the location up above Abbitibbi
little River.  Watch out, Da, we've got to be
wide awake.  Don't say much."\par

The big bolt was sliding along as she whispered
these words quickly--and in a moment the door
opened.\par

"Won't you step inside, Mr. Stenson?  What's
your news?"\par

Mr. Jan Stenson stepped inside, and the dog
received a smack from David for growling in an
undertone, while the man unstrapped his
snowshoes, and set them against the wall.  He was a
short person, not so tall as Nell, but looked as
broad as he was high.  Of course the clothes he
wore emphasised this appearance: skins with
fur inwards, and a sort of cap-like hood to the
coat, drawn close round the face by a string, and
edged all round with little furry tails to keep the
freezing wind from the features--otherwise a
man gets frost-bite in the nose or cheeks.\par

Jan Stenson threw back his hood--or "parka,"
as it is called--and showed a broad, rather flat
face, and close-set eyes that shifted as he talked.
Nell asked him to sit down, so he sat on a bench
near the stove and smoked tobacco that she
offered.\par

"You can have tea or cocoa," said the girl.
"Dad hasn't any use for spirits."\par

Mr. Stenson chose tea, without thanks.  He
had a good deal of use for spirits when he could
get them--no easy matter in the Dominion!\par

Then he told the story for which the two were
waiting so eagerly.\par

It seemed that Andrew had reached the border
line where his district touched theirs, when he
found a very large wild cat caught in a mink
trap.  Stenson called the beast a "catamount,"
so Nell knew he meant one of the largest and
most savage of the wild cat tribe--about as big
as a lynx and in some ways even more powerful.
The creature had special value alive--far above
the mere skin--because a certain travelling
company down east had offered a big price for
one--for the Show--uninjured.  Therefore it
entered Lindsay's mind that here was the chance
to do well, and he tried to smother the mad
animal down with his sleeping bag, and rope it
securely, intending then to free the paw caught
in the iron spring.  But somehow this plan missed
fire.  The catamount, frantic with pain, fastened
on the man's knee with its terrible fangs and
claws, and he was obliged to shoot it, but not
before he had suffered very serious injury.\par

"He made shift to overhaul our shack, but he
was about done in.  Not a trick left in him.  It
might be a long job," suggested Mr. Stenson,
glancing sideways at the girl, "them catamounts
is chock full up with pison--bad as pumas and
that like."\par

"Bad luck indeed," said Nell soberly.  "Thank
you very much for coming over to tell us.  What
does Dad want us to do?"\par

"Looks as though he makes out to have you
both over at the Abbitibbi.  That's what I come
along for--to see if you'd do it.  He's got to be
done for, sure enough.  You and him and the
boy can have the shack.  It's no odds to me and
Barry.  There's the wood-house lean-to where
we can roll up.  We've done worse many's the
time.  Why not?  You think it out and look at
it that your Dad wants someone about.  It may
be weeks if he don't get proper attendance, and
he makes out to be off soon as the snow clears.
Eh?  Well, he won't do that if his leg's left to
get worse.  Them catamounts is full up with pison."\par

This was rather a long speech on the whole for
Jan Stenson.  He did not "make out to talk,"
as he would have said of himself.  But he was
apparently earnest about this, and kept on
impressing the urgency of it in jerky sentences
between puffs at his pipe.\par

After a pause Nell asked.\par

"Did Dad send us any message?"\par

"Said he hoped you'd come along.  He don't
find no treat in layin' up in a bunk, when he
wants to clear up the traps."\par

"No, poor Dad," agreed Nell thoughtfully.
"Let me think."  She paused, and sat very
quiet as she stroked Robin's smooth head.  Under
her fingers she could feel his throat move as he
growled without sound.\par

David looked from one to the other as the talk
went on.  He did not like the trapper, but he
thought he and Jukes were very kind in this
instance and meant well.  He wondered what
Nell would do, though it certainly seemed as
though there was not much choice in the matter.
Presently she broke silence by asking exactly
when the accident had occurred.  According to
Stenson, Lindsay had been nearly a week laid
up, but they had been too busy to give notice
earlier.  The man said nothing about the distance--a
matter of thirty miles--because it was not
considered anything much in a country of great
distances.  Men with a sled and a dog team
would travel on snowshoes thirty miles a day and
more without considering it an out of the way
effort.  And Stenson was, what is called,
"travelling light," with nothing but a pack on his back,
consisting of his sleeping blanket, his gun, and
some pemmican (dried pressed meat); he was
on his way, he said, to a camp of Indian trappers
not far to the north-west.  They were some
wandering Chippewa, or Ojibway Indians,
belonging to the tribes on the big lakes, to the
south-west.  They travelled away in parties
hunting and collecting furs, and the trappers
often bought these from them for tea, tobacco,
and blankets.  There was always a lot of exchange
going on and Nell, understanding all about it,
did not question Stenson's business.\par

Still ignoring his invitation she offered him
bread--the sour-dough bread she made herself--and
meat as well as the tea; he ate without
comment, his close-set eyes shifting looks to
every part of the room, and everything in it.
When he had finished he got up.  Then the girl
said as though the subject had never been
dropped:\par

"I don't see why you and Barry Jukes couldn't
get Dad up home with your sled.  He'd pay for
loss of time if it comes to that.  Why not?"\par

Stenson shook his head.  He said the snow was
getting soft, and the ground would be much too
rough for an injured man.  Besides, they'd sold
their dogs, and he and Barry didn't "lay-out"
to pull such a load added to a camping outfit,
because they'd have to make two days, if not
three of it.\par

"You can't go shifting a man in his state,"
he said, "not without worse to follow.  See here,
miss, you get your outfit together, and I'll call in
for you the third day from now and take you
along.  You and the boy and the dog--how's
that?  It won't be for long.  Sight of you will
mend up that knee fine.  Like enough your Dad
will make out to come back home with you in ten
days or thereabouts, taking it slow and camping.
I know you got a hand sled.  We can makeshift
to load your traps on that.  The dog and I can
pull and you can take a hand at pushing."\par

Thus Jan Stenson explained his ideas as he
pulled over his parka, dragged on his big fur
mitts, and made ready to go out into the dusk.\par

"When did you say--exactly?" asked Nell.\par

"Third day from now," he was fastening
on his snowshoes in the doorway.  "I lay out
to make old Ogâ's camp in three hours.  I'll
get through business to-morrow and come for
you morning after.  Nine o'clock more or less,
we don't want more than one camp--if that."\par

"All right," agreed Nell, nodding her head,
"don't come sooner, because I shan't be ready.
There's a lot to do.  I can't risk the potatoes
freezing--I'll have to put them in fur bags.
Well, good night, Mr. Stenson, and thank you
for coming."\par

It was not David's usual habit to remain silent,
but he had been so surprised through this queer
visit and so entirely astonished at the ending of
it that even after the bolt slid into place he only
stared at his sister, turning over twenty questions
he wanted to ask, but not asking one.\par

"So {\itshape{that's}} finished!" said Nell, shutting her
teeth together with a snap.  Then she threw
herself down on the skin rug, leaned her back
against the bench, clasped her fingers round her
bent knees and concluded, "Now, let me think."\par

"I wish you weren't always thinking and
never saying anything," remarked David.  "I
want to know about one thousand things, Nell,
and you never tell me one!  Do you like that
chap?  {\itshape{I}} don't, and Robin hates him--{\itshape{bite}} him,
Rob--hey, bite him!"\par

There was a mix-up on the floor between the
big black hound and the boy.  When it settled
into peace, Nell asked as though nothing had
interrupted:\par

"Why don't you like Stenson?"\par

"Oh, I don't know.  He's a snake and a
rotter.  His eyes keep on slewing round.  He tells
lies.  When it comes to that why does old Rob
hate him?  I say, Nell, are you really going to
take that trail on Thursday?"\par

Nell looked at the boy's earnest eyes, and a
little twisted smile curled one corner of her firm
mouth.\par

"No," she said.\par

"{\itshape{No}}, why--how will you get out of it?  I {\itshape{say}}----"\par

"Easy enough.  We shan't be here, my dear."\par

"Shan't be {\itshape{here}}!  Where shall we be then?"\par

David opened his mouth as well as his eyes
when the full force of this surprising news began
to sink into his mind.\par

"Well--with any luck--and God's help, my
child--we shall be on the trail for Fort
St. Louis.  Anyway, either that, or to Brunswick
House.  I mean to strike the lake at the bottom
of the Divide, and make the very straightest trail
we can down the river, till we hit the Moose----"\par

"Great snakes!" gasped David, his eyes
shining with excitement, "but, look here, old
girl--aren't you biting off more than you can
chew?  It's a pretty big proposition, you know.
How far to Fort Louis from here?"\par

"About two hundred miles, but we shall
strike the Moose River before that and then
we shall be pretty safe, because there are more
folk over there."  Nell spoke as though it was all
settled in her mind, which was comforting to her
astonished brother.\par

"How do you mean {\itshape{safe}}?" he asked.\par

"From this gang.  They are up to something,
and I guess what it is."\par

"You do.  What is it then?"\par

"I've no time to explain now," said the girl,
jumping up with an energetic spring, "there's a
whole heap to do and no time to do it in, for we
ought to get a few winks of sleep to-night or we
shall be sleepy on the trail."  Then seeing
another question on David's tongue, she added,
"We must get off early to-morrow morning."\par

\label{nell-makes-up-her-mind}%
\hypertarget{nell-makes-up-her-mind}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER III}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ NELL MAKES UP HER MIND}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
Nell Lindsay worked like two people
that evening.  She put the potatoes into
fur bags as she said, and went over everything
of value in the shack.  She could not stop to
talk, but David--admiring her more and
more--gathered her plans and intentions from what she
said as they worked.\par

"You see, it didn't come upon me all in one
moment," she explained, "because I'd been
hacking away at this notion for the last four days
really.  Ever since Dad didn't come, you see, Da.
{\itshape{If}} he didn't come, the only plan was to find out
what was wrong from the Chippewas--we could
make their camp and ask--and then simply
strike the trail for the Fort, because Dad would
want us to do that one thing."\par

David checked with his hands full of potatoes
to say:\par

"But look here--what about Dad now?"\par

"Well--I don't think I believe all that story.
It's got a kind of false feeling in it.  Dad may
have got his knee hurt, but I'm certain sure, Da,
he never meant us to leave this and go over to
Abbitibbi Lake with Stenson.  I'm {\itshape{sure}} he never
did.  Probably he said to Stenson, 'as you're
bound for Ogâ's camp, just you look in at the
shack and tell them I'm here all right'--do you
see, Da?  He may be lamed up too much to take
the trail for a few days, but I believe that's about
the length of it!  He only sent us the news.  I
sort of {\itshape{feel}} that in my mind."\par

"But what----"\par

"I'm coming to that," Nell checked him.
"Here, put this against the partition, it's warmer
than the outside wall.  I don't believe they'll
freeze so, Da, the worst of the winter is done."  She
rested a minute, hands on hips, looking round
at her labours.  Then she took up the tale of her
belief in a much lower voice as though she were
afraid of being overheard.\par

"You know about all that money Dad has been
saving up to make you into a real good engineer,
don't you, Da?  Well, it's hidden in this shack
and no one knows where it is but Dad and me.
It's a good lot, because Dad just kept the fur
money year after year, and we buy things from
the traders--you know.  I rather wanted him
to take it all down to the Settlement, but he
wouldn't leave us here before Mother went, nor
since--so it just had to stay, you see what I mean.
Well, these men must know that.  They know
Dad's been saving up, and they know the money
is somewhere.  Now I believe their plan is to
get us and Robin out of the house, then they'll
come and hunt over every inch and steal it."\par

"They'd get caught and----"\par

"They can lay it on the Chippewas--Ogâ's
camp isn't so far off.  He's been shifting round
this district quite a while.  Don't you see, Da,
they can't do a thing if Dad is here--nor if you
and I and Robin are here.  It's a trick to keep
us out of the shack."\par

Nell's cheeks were scarlet with the energy of
her whispered story.  When she reached the end
of it they paled again.\par

"{\itshape{That's}} how I seem to see it," she concluded,
"and I'm so certain that I mean to clear out
with all that money and take it to Fort St. Louis.
I want to get twenty-four hours' start of Jan
Stenson.  I rather hope he may think we've got
so scared about Dad that we've gone ahead down
east to Abbitibbi."\par

"What about your trail?" suggested David,
fervent interest in every line of his face.  He was
beginning to understand the amazing plan and
the full danger that was driving Nell into it.\par

"I believe the snow will help us.  It will cover
the trail."\par

"Great snakes!  Now I see why you were
looking out for snow!  But, Nell, if we stay here
till Dad comes can't we guard the money?  It's
a jolly big thing taking the trail to Fort Louis.
Can't we stick it out here?"\par

Nell shook her head and her eyes wavered a
little from her brother's eager gaze.\par

"I don't think they'd stop short of--well--real
wickedness, Da, if they couldn't get the money by
a trick.  You must remember they've got Dad as a
kind of hostage, and they could say, 'If you don't
hand over that cash it'll be all the worse for him,'
don't you see?  Of course, it would be a risk for
them, in the end.  But men like that chance risks.
They could get away up north--or to the States.
There's room--why, thousands of miles every
way.  Ten to one they mightn't be caught."\par

David realised the position entirely.  He was
full of sense.  Moreover, he had been Nell's
companion ever since he could walk and talk,
and her common sense was notable.  He understood,
but said no more, for what was the good of
talking? their business now was to act.\par

"I know exactly what Dad would wish us to
do," went on Nell, "clear off with that money.
Look how he's worked to get it, because you
must be properly educated if you are to get to
the top in engineering.  The only thing that
bothered me for a bit was, if they'd do anything
to him, supposing they understand we've gone
off like that.  I thought and thought, and then
I saw they certainly would not, because what
would be the sense of risking prison for nothing
at all!  They'll try and catch us right enough,
and make off with the money."\par

"Oh, you think they'll come after us, do
you?" said David, stopping short in his silent
by-play of ragging the black dog.\par

"Rather!" agreed Nell firmly.\par

David's mouth widened into a grin.\par

"Do you hear that, Robin?" he said cheerfully.
"Then the sooner we jolly well hop it
the better, for we've a long, long way to Tipperary."\par

For hours the brother and sister worked, until
indeed David was so sleepy that Nell forced him
to undress and roll up in his bunk, where in one
minute he was soundly unconscious.  That was
at one o'clock in the morning, when her neat
arrangements were nearly completed.\par

They were to take the hand sled, to be pulled
by Robin and David, and pushed by herself.
As a rule, a man who pulls--when there is no
dog team--passes a rope over his shoulder and
holds the end in his hands, then he drags, bending
forward.  It is fearfully hard work and slow, too.
Nell's inventive mind planned a kind of harness
for David, who would go first, "breaking trail"
with his snowshoes for the feet of the dog who
would be nearest the sled.  She would go behind
the first part of the way, because of the track
towards the stream.  It would be necessary to
hold back the little loaded sled with strength
and judgment.  Afterwards, if breaking trail
proved too hard for David, she would pull and
he should push at the back.\par

It will be understood that Nell intended to
save the most valuable of the skins as well as
the money.  Fortunately these were, as a rule,
the smaller ones--marten, sable, mink, and
beaver.  She made close packages of these pelts
and fastened them on the sled, together with a
frying-pan, a billy-can for making tea, a small,
sharp axe, and their two sleeping bags, double
skins with the fur inwards.  For food she took
as little as she thought safe--for a reason to be
explained presently--and nothing cumbersome--for
instance, no flour--only dried beans, bacon,
tea, and the compressed meat, called pemmican,
which is not very nice, but very nourishing, as
it is pressed into little bags and a very little
contains a lot of meat.\par

She took some tobacco as a precaution,
supposing they should come across Indians and
want to give a present, and she took flint and
steel as well as matches, in case the latter got
damp by any accident.\par

Lastly she strapped in place her great treasure,
a small Winchester repeating rifle that her father
had given her and taught her to shoot with, and
ammunition.  She had told David she wasn't
going to leave it behind to be possibly stolen, but
her intention was to use it for the defence of
that precious money if need be.  Besides the
little rifle, both she and David carried automatic
pistols; long and careful practice had made
them good shots--it is necessary to know how
to protect oneself in a wild country.\par

As Nell sat by the stove making harness from
strips of hide she thought a good deal about the
money and how she was to hide it.  Very little
of it was gold.  Nearly all was in dollar bills.
She passed in review a dozen hiding-places, but
dismissed one after another, finally deciding that
the only safe place would be upon her own body.
Of course, she realised that if she were caught
that would be suspected, but they must be put
somewhere and she could defend herself.  There
was one plan that kept on coming back into her
mind.  That was to hide the money in the log
house.  Leave it behind carefully concealed, and
lead the hunters off on a false trail.  She thought
of all the places in which it could be put and could
not help knowing that any place inside the log
house would be bound to be discovered.\par

At the present time the money was laid in a
recess under the floor, which was made of logs,
more or less flattened on the top.  The hunters
could, if they wanted, try everyone of these
boards in a fairly short time.  They could search
the berths, empty out the potato sacks--Nell
sincerely hoped they wouldn't because of the
potatoes!  The only real hiding-place would be
a hole in the ground outside the house, but how
could she do that when the ground was covered
with snow?  You can't put back snow without
leaving traces of your work, and besides the
ground was hard as wood.\par

The more she went over these things in her
mind, the more definitely she saw that she must
carry the money.\par

"They'll come and find we are gone,"
murmured Nell, ticking off the events with one
finger on the spread out fingers of her other
hand, "or {\itshape{he}} will, anyway.  He'll think I'm
scared about Dad and have gone on ahead--I'll
fasten up a paper saying, 'Gone on,' that'll
be true, anyway."  Her mouth twisted into a
smile.  "I'll fasten up the paper on the door,
{\itshape{outside}}.  Then, he'll break it open most likely,
and hunt over every inch of the place.  Then,
he'll fix up that I've got the money on me.  Then,
he'll sprint off to Abbitibbi and get there in one
day.  Then, he'll find we never came and both
of them will make out to follow.  Two men
travelling light can go very fast.  They'll just
carry a pack--but they'll come back here to get
on to our trail like enough, sure to."\par

She had used up all her fingers, and the busy
hands lay in her lap as she thought it all over.
There was a shadow over her keen eyes, for she
could not hide from herself that the chance was
rather a poor one.  Indeed, were it not for the
two days and more of start there would not be
much chance at all.\par

Two trappers, the hardiest, toughest men on
the Continent, used to miles of travel at great
speed, travelling light, and following after a big
fortune in dollar bills to be had for the taking,
were bound to overtake herself and David and
the sled!  They would not go half as fast, and
they must rest--for David's sake.  After all, he
was only twelve, and no boy of twelve, however
strong, can outlast a tough man in his prime.\par

It was the start she was counting on, and the
fact that the men would make so sure of catching
them that they might not put out full effort.
These trappers would do the distance in four
days, going fast--at least, they often did when in
haste--while she and David would take eight
days.  It was not a cheering calculation,
but--she was looking at chances, as has been said
before.  Possibly snow, and a lost trail.  Lastly,
the farther they two went the more likely would
they be to hap on "folk."  On the Moose River
there were many locations.  Life would be
stirring.  She might strike friends and human
dwellings.\par

Certainly, then, she must carry the money.\par

\label{the-howl-of-the-wolf}%
\hypertarget{the-howl-of-the-wolf}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER IV}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE HOWL OF THE WOLF}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
Presently Nell stood up and stretched,
yawning a little, for she was sleepy.  She
looked round on her work and knew that all was
completed except--the one thing.  By a sort of
instinct she stood quite still listening.  There was
no sound, but the crackle of wood in the stove and
the sighing of wind round the house.  She was
glad of that crackling, it had a friendly feeling.\par

Having satisfied herself that all was safe, and
the big bolts shot home into the staples, she
took down a pick that they often used for breaking
the hard ground, and then dragged back the big
black bearskin spread on the floor by the stove.
Just as it was rolled up she started
nervously--someone moving!  She had forgotten Robin,
who had followed David into the small room at
the end, and now--perhaps hearing strange
movements on her part--came back to see what
was happening.  He walked across in a dignified
manner, sat down on his haunches at the edge of
the nearest rug, and then, turning his head
slowly, gazed at the door.\par

Poor Nell, rather burdened by the weight of
these events, felt a glow of affection towards the
wise dog.  She had not remembered him oddly
enough for quite a long while, except as a little
horse for the sled.  Now as she looked over at him
she knew she had a partner of value.  The job
seemed much less formidable, and she fixed the
sharp point of the pick between the floor boards
with a much lighter heart.  She knew exactly
where the place was, her father had shown her
the secret of the hiding-place, one piece fitting
over another so neatly and the rough bark hiding
joins.  A person who did not know would have
to get the whole line up on the chance of finding
one loose one.\par

There was the money, tied up in packets
and stowed in two bags made of soft deerskin.
Nell took it out, and heartily wished there was
less of it!  It was not heavy, of course, because
it was paper.  Also, from time to time her father
had changed a parcel of small bills for one larger
one, so there was not nearly as much as might have
been supposed to represent so many years' savings.\par

Before going to work on the hiding part of the
business, the girl put back the log, knocked it
firmly into place and put the bearskin over it.
Then she gathered up the two bags, and stood
holding them thoughtfully as her fingers ran over
the bulk and shape of the paper.\par

At that moment her attention was drawn to
Robin by his action.  He moved slowly over to
the door, and with drooping head blew sniffing
breath along the lower part of it.  He made no
sound, but the hackles on his neck rose stiffly, and
the snow squeezing in under the door was blown
out by his breath.\par

Then, from the forest came the far-off howl of
a husky dog--or a wolf.\par

Nell knew that the huskies in an Indian camp
will howl in the night for hours.  All of them
together, too.  The most mournful and tragic
sound, though they are not unhappy.  In the
very coldest weather they will bury themselves
in the snow--especially when they are on the
Long Trail--bury themselves entirely and so
sleep warm.  But in the camps they will wander
round about and in and out, fighting with each
other and howling in chorus as their ancestors
the wolves must have done in far-away days
when all this great snow country was wild as
the Barren Lands up in the north near the Circle.\par

Nell listened, startled.  Why should a husky dog
be away out there by itself?  It was so unlikely
that she settled this must be a lone wolf.  But why
did it howl?  They seldom did that unless they
were in full cry, a pack of them on the track of a
deer.  Also wolves were not very plentiful about
this part; though, of course, they might come
when driven by hunger--ravenous, and savage.\par

"Well, it doesn't matter," thought the girl,
and she spoke to Robin gently.  "Only a wolf,
old man.  He won't interfere with us."\par

Even as she stopped speaking, the wolf howled
again.  This time it was nearer.  Robin scratched
at the foot of the door and snuffed again heavily,
but he did not growl.  That was reassuring,
because Nell knew he would have growled had
it been an enemy--but why didn't he growl at a
wolf?  That seemed odd.  Wolf or husky would
have been equally objectionable to Robin.\par

These thoughts flashed through the girl's mind,
the while she pushed the leather bags under the
package of pelts, looked to the priming of her
little weapon, and pulled the hood of her parka
up to cover her head and face.  Not only for
protection from cold did she do this, but for
disguise also in a way, because, as she was
dressed like a man in leather breeches with the
fur inwards and leather moccasins--or leggings
with boots to them--being so tall and strong she
would at once be mistaken for a man when the
parka tails fell round her face.\par

All this took but a couple of minutes; Nell
always moved quickly.  Then she grasped the
bolt, pushing Robin aside with her foot and
talking to him in a low voice.\par

"We must have a look, eh, boy?" she said.
And at that instant the dreary howl came from
the back of the log house, close where the wood
was thickest and the hill rose steeply.\par

"Queer," said Nell to the dog, "there's
something more in this than meets the eye--for
the matter of that, it doesn't meet the eye at all,
does it, Robin?  Hope it won't wake Da; he'll
want to come out if he hears."\par

But David slept; he was tired.\par

The girl opened the door and slipped out into
the snow.  She held Robin by the collar till such
time as it might be necessary to let him go, and
together they went to the end of the shack.\par

No one to be seen.  No sound but the wind
in the dry boughs above.  Nell listened intently,
then she turned her head and looked back towards
the door; after all, it was open and she did not
like to go on round the house.  Robin must go,
she would stop this side.\par

As her hand loosed from his neck, the big
dog bayed once, a deep note, and disappeared
into the wood.  Nell went back towards the door
her ears alert as any wild thing of the woods.
Also her eyes!  In spite of the darkness, which was
thick and starless, the snow made a paler
background.  On that it seemed to Nell that she saw
a moving shadow close to the house.  Not tall.
Rather close to the ground.  She sprang forward
swiftly, but the shadow was quicker; she saw it
reach the door and slip inside.\par

The girl was not frightened, but she checked
speed and approached the door with extra
caution.  She could not be sure whether this
weird shadow was an animal or a human being.
In the latter case the bolt might be shot and
herself shut out with David and the treasure
within!  That would be awkward.  She was
waiting for Robin, knowing that he would follow
that shadow with unerring certainty.\par

Sure enough, as she crept up to the unclosed
door from her side, the black shape of the big
dog flashed into view from the other.  He had
gone round the house with his muzzle to the
ground on the trail of the shadow.  Straight into
the doorway he went before Nell could stop him.
With a spring she followed instantly.\par

There was some light within, because the
glow from the stove was diffused, and a candle--Nell
made them herself out of deers' fat with a
cotton wick--was set on the table as she left
it.  By this mild radiance she saw, standing on
the bearskin before the fire, a curious figure.
At least, it would have been curious to a
town-dweller, and wild, too.\par

It was an Indian boy, slim, and active as a
goat, complete as one of the Braves--as the
men are called--from the feathers in his parka
to the beads on his moccasins.  He took no
notice of Robin--it would have been beneath
the dignity of boy or man to show trace of fear
of anything--enemy, pain, or danger.  But when
he saw Nell come in swiftly after the dog, he
flung out his right hand straight before him,
with the palm towards her.  Nell instantly did
the same thing.  This was a signal of peace and
friendship from him, and accepted by her.\par

Seeing it was friendliness, then, Nell shut the
door, fastened it and then turned to this strange
intruder.  Robin had seated himself on his haunches
in his own place and was looking gravely at the
two of them as though asking, "What next?"\par

Nell knew enough of the Chippewa tongue to
make herself understood, and the boy, of course,
had caught some English from the trappers, but she
knew also that it was not etiquette to ask questions
of an Indian, however odd the circumstances, so
she began by offering him tea and food.\par

"My brother's feet are weary," she said, "and
his throat is dry, for he has come a long way in
the dark.  Let him sit down by the fire, and there
will be peace and friendship in this lodge."\par

The boy, who was perhaps a little younger
than David, bore himself with the curious
reserve and caution of a full-grown man of his
tribe.  He sat down on the bearskin and watched
her with the bead-like eyes of a squirrel--or a
musk rat.  There was no malice in the eyes, only
intense curiosity, which must, of course, be
hidden, by all rules and habits of Indian "bucks."\par

Women may be inquisitive, or surprised, but
men must not be.  Nothing must upset their
dignity.\par

He ate the fried meat and drank the tea that
she offered him, and Nell had a distinct
impression that he was hungry.  When he had
finished he set his plate on the floor by his side
and spoke in his own language, and always in
the rather poetical phrasing of his people.\par

"The meat is good and the heart of the
Lizard is now warm."\par

"I am glad," said Nell, "the night is long and
dark, my brother the Lizard journeyed a long way."\par

"That is so--but the Lizard is strong, and he
has no fear in the dark, because he is the son of
Ogâ (the Pickerel).  He runs like Kee-way-din,
the North Wind, to carry a message to the
tall white sister with hair that flames."\par

Nell tried not to show too much anxiety, but
she realised that here was something really important.\par

"I am glad," she said, "that the heart of my
brother the Lizard is right towards me.  Ogâ is a
great chief, and one day his son will be as tall as
the pine trees, and as strong as the grey bear of
the Rocky Mountains."\par

The jet black eyes of the boy glittered with
approval of this sentiment.  He sat up rigidly,
expanding his chest with pride, then he answered:\par

"The Lizard has a sister and her name is
Shines-in-the-Night; when the sun was warm
and the chickadee danced in the woods, the tall
white sister came to the camp of Ogâ.  She looked
upon Shines-in-the-Night with the eyes of
kindness and gave to her a necklace of blue beads,
very beautiful and precious.  From that time the
heart of Shines-in-the-Night was warm--whichever
way she looked she saw only the tall white
sister with hair that flames."\par

Nell nodded, remembering easily the Indian
girl with a paler skin than the others, to whom
she had talked when she went with her father
to buy some skins the previous spring.  Also
she remembered the blue beads which she had
been wearing herself at the time.\par

"Shines-in-the-Night spoke to the Lizard,
and said, 'Go to the lodge of my sister and tell
her that the trapper from Abbitibbi, with little
eyes that open only half-way, has a forked tongue.
His words are not true, and his heart is black.'"\par

"Shines-in-the-Night is very wise," said Nell
in a low voice, "I know."\par

The Lizard suddenly stood up on his feet.\par

"Let the tall white sister take the trail," he
said, watching Nell with twinkling eyes, "then,
when Little Eyes comes to the white man's
lodge, there will be none to answer.  My white
sister will be gone, swift as Ah-tek (the caribou),
and Moose-wa (the moose)."\par

A sudden presentiment overwhelmed the girl.\par

"When will the man with a forked tongue
come from the camp of Ogâ?" she asked.\par

"He will come to-day--this day that is now awake."\par

\label{little-eyes-has-a-forked-tongue}%
\hypertarget{little-eyes-has-a-forked-tongue}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER V}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ "LITTLE EYES HAS A FORKED TONGUE"}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
In the stillness that followed this answer to
her question Nell made a wild calculation
in her head.  To-day!  The boy must mean
to-morrow.  She said so, eagerly.\par

"Little Eyes has a forked tongue," repeated
the Lizard, with emphasis.  "He says one thing,
but his heart is false.  He spoke to my father,
the Pickerel, and he said, 'Take money for these
pelts, and have all ready at the day dawn.  Give
me food also, for I go on the home trail in the
morning.'  Then Shines-in-the-Night said to
me, 'Run with the feet of Ah-tek to the white
man's lodge and carry this word from me to the
tall white sister, for the heart of Little Eyes is
not good towards her.'"\par

"How does she know?" questioned Nell.\par

The Lizard made a gesture with his expressive
brown hands.\par

"It is clear to Shines-in-the-Night, as the face
of the Forest, or the tune of the River," he said.\par

"Well," said the girl, with a sort of desperate
firmness, "what must be, must be then.  We
will go as soon as the day breaks.  I will wake
my brother, we will eat and go."\par

"That is well," agreed the Lizard evidently
satisfied, "the snow will hide the trail, and the
great black ninnymoosh (dog) will be your
friend."  He looked at Robin with grave approval.
There was evidently a sympathy between them,
though the hound was not familiar.\par

Nell went over to a locker in which were kept
all sorts of small articles and loose oddments,
and extracted therefrom a strong clasp knife.
It was a good knife, but, more important still, it
was a showy knife.  It possessed three blades of
different sizes, a corkscrew, and a spike, useful
for making holes or as a lever, for it was strong.
She gave it to the boy, being very careful indeed
not to suggest that she was offering payment.\par

"Will my brother the Lizard take this from
my hand, in token that my heart is very good
towards him?  My brother will some day be a
great chief and these little knives shall help him
to skin Mak-wa (the bear), after the gun has sent
him into the Afterland."\par

The boy's eyes shone as he took this
unexpected treasure.  It was a prize of immense
value to him, and one that would make him the
envy of every other boy for years.  Nell was
turning over in her mind what on earth she
could send to Shines-in-the-Night--for she owed
the girl a great deal--her action had been so
clever and so swift, founded as it was almost
entirely on instinct.  She did not possess the
things worn by other girls of her age; where no
shops are people do not accumulate small matters
of dress.\par

Swiftly she went to her room and opened a
box.  Turning over her few things she came upon
a Christmas card shaped like a little book with
a scented sachet inside.  Just a very small
cushion of satin with a bunch of mignonette
painted on it, and a sweet smell of the same
flower.  On the outside of the cover was a picture
of a pretty cottage and holly trees glittering with
snow.  It was a Christmas card sent to Nell by
relations in a far-away land.  She was fond of
it, but she understood well what it would mean
to the Chippewa girl, so she took it to the boy
and presented it in a ceremonious manner, a
special gift from herself to Shines-in-the-Night.\par

The Lizard was greatly impressed.  Of course,
he tried to conceal his wonder and admiration,
because a brave must never be surprised.  He
hid it in his leather shirt, then he went, with
startling swiftness and perfectly noiseless, and
the girl found herself alone again faced by the
necessity of instant flight.\par

It was three o'clock in the morning, and she
wanted to be off in the grey of daybreak.\par

There was no time to make a careful disposition
of the "greenbacks," or dollar bills.  She took
a broad strip of a pelt, cured soft as silk, tacked
the two packets to it with strong stitches of her
needle and thread, and fastened it round her
waist under her leather shirt.  It was the only
way she could think of doing it quickly.  Later
she might invent some new plan.  But it all
depended on events.\par

Then she woke David, who grunted rather
discontentedly, and then sat up in his blankets.\par

"What's the good of getting up in the middle
of the night," he said; "we've done all the
things, and we aren't going till to-morrow."\par

"We are going to-day, in about half an hour,"
Nell told him; "something has happened."\par

"I {\itshape{say}}--what, what's happened?" David
scrubbed his face with both hands to wake
himself, he was still rather unbelieving.\par

"I'll tell you while we are having breakfast,"
said Nell.  "It's very queer and it isn't nice!
Things have been happening all night, and now
it's just about daybreak."\par

"{\itshape{I say!}}" exclaimed the boy again, "then
you haven't been to sleep!  What a shame!"\par

"Don't think I could have gone to sleep
anyhow.  I had such a horribly wideawake mind.
Never mind, we'll sleep to-night--let's
hope."  She laughed and went away.\par

Less than an hour later the little cavalcade
took the trail.\par

Nell left the house in order because she could
not find it possible to leave dirt and confusion.
She locked the door outside and put the big key
in her pocket.  Then she nailed a square of paper
on the doorpost, using a stone to drive in the
nail.  On the paper was printed:\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ GONE ON.  E.L.  (for Ellen Lindsay).}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
"Will he believe that?" asked David, speaking
in a whisper, for the grey, thick chill of the
morning's dawn rather oppressed him, though
the flight did not.  He thought the whole thing
a mighty spree.\par

"Not till he's broken open the door," said
Nell dryly.  "That is the time I'm counting on,
you see?  He'll break in and hunt every corner of
the house for Dad's money.  When he can't
find it he'll think I've gone on to Dad, at their
shack.  I'm counting on {\itshape{that}}, too."\par

"Jolly lot of counting, and not much really
certainty," commented David, making a face.
"How's he going to account for breaking the
door open and turning the place upside
down--I mean when Dad comes back?"\par

"Oh--he'll say the Chippewas must have
done it.  It's pretty simple, because Indians do
break into shacks sometimes.  That'll do for a
story if nothing comes of his plan--I mean if
he doesn't get hold of the money, anyhow.  But
you must remember he's laying out to lift that
money off us somehow, and if he gets it they'll
just vamoose"--by which she meant--"make
themselves scarce"--"they won't stop to make
explanations."\par

"Well," said David as he strapped on his
snowshoes, "they won't get it."\par

"No," agreed Nell, "they won't.  But they'll
make a good try, because when people begin on
a nasty job they get kind of involved and {\itshape{have}}
to go on."\par

"Best thing is not to begin," said her brother
in rather a sententious voice.\par

Nell showed her pretty teeth in a silent laugh.\par

"Come on," she whispered, as she fastened
the harness on her odd steeds.  "Off we go, Da,
and God bless us all--Dad as well."\par

The fall of the ground was steepish, but the
track was fairly beaten out, because winter and
summer it was a path to the stream below.  The
distance was hardly more than half a mile, and
in summer Nell went up and down often for
water.  In winter they went up and down almost
as often for fish, as they had got an ice-hole
trap in the stream, which was deepish, though
not very wide so early in its course, its source
being way up in the mountains at the back of the
log house.\par

Nell's plan was quite definite.  She meant to
get on the "River" and follow its course to the
lake--about thirty miles, perhaps more--cross
the lake, get on to the ever-widening river and
go on at top speed till their river joined up with
the Moose, when they might hope to hit on human
habitations.\par

It was a reasonable plan, but there was one
very serious danger--the possibility that "the
bottom might fall out of the trail," as the language
of the northlands puts it.  In other words, that
the ice might break and go down-stream--one
moving mass, hundreds of miles in length,
cracking, heaving, and piling up on itself.  That
happened every spring.  The farther up north
you were the later it took place, of course.  A few
days of sunshine, a milder feel in the wind, and
the springs in the hills would begin to trickle into
the streams, the streams into the rivers, and up
would rise the bursting ice on the swollen water.\par

Now that was what Nell was dreading most of
all.  A thaw would make the snow clog, too;
there was extra effort when the trail was heavy.
As they darted down the hill she sniffed the air
like a dog; the snowflakes drifting against her
face were rather large and wettish, not like the
biting ice powder that drove along in the winter.\par

A thaw was coming, but she would do this
journey before it made the river road impassable.\par

Down and down they went, Nell hanging
back her whole weight to prevent the sled slipping
on to Robin's heels.  David kept to the outside
for the time, giving a hand to steady the load at
the worst places.  There was nothing top heavy
or slack about the packing of the sled.  They had
been trained to do it to perfection--canvas cover
lashed down at the sides as neatly as the mainsail
cover of a well-kept yacht.\par

In ten minutes they had reached the stream
and stood firm upon the snow-covered ice.  The
real journey was beginning.\par

They stood still to take breath after the scramble
of that quick descent.  Nell looked back at the
track.  It was covered already with snow.  She
felt a thrill of thankfulness that her hope was
fulfilled.  The marks of the sled runners were
not quite gone in places--though they would be
soon--but the trail of the dog's feet, and the
digs made by the heel of the snowshoes when
the weight was thrown back so hard, were already
gone.  The hard packing of the snow had helped
them, and now came fresh snow and blotted out
the trail.\par

On either side of them the banks rose fairly
steep, and woods covered the banks.  All the
world was still and grey, and under the spruce
firs the snow carpet lay smooth and untrodden--
dead white with the black boles rising from it.\par

Their road lay straight ahead by the frozen
stream, and the one thing that mattered was haste.\par

David now took his place as leader.  Robin
trotted behind him in the traces, muzzle to the
ground as he always ran, and Nell pushed at
the back.  Both she and David wore the round-toed
snowshoes that most of the Indians use--not
the very long shape like a boat, worn by the
plainsmen, and the men who go on the long trail
over the vast snow expanses in the far north.\par

These shoes are made of the green wood of the
tamarack, steamed to make it pliable--then the
loop can be bowed into the shape of the
snowshoe racket.  This is bound in place by strips
of caribou skin rawhide soaked in warm water,
which also binds the ends together.  When this
is done the shoe is hung up to dry slowly,
afterwards holes are made with the red-hot
cleaning rod of a rifle which is used for boring,
then webbing of caribou rawhide shrinks when
it is wet and thus tightens up the shoe when
other things would stretch.\par

Both Nell and David were used to this form
of travelling and had long ceased to get the
cramps and aches that come to people at the
beginning.\par

Silent as the falling snow down the river path
between the deathly stillness of the woods they
flew along.\par

The journey had begun in earnest.\par

\label{green-eyes-in-the-darkness}%
\hypertarget{green-eyes-in-the-darkness}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER VI}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ GREEN EYES IN THE DARKNESS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
So their flight continued all day, with brief
rests for "changing horses," as it were.
About twelve o'clock they were very hungry,
and Nell decreed a short spell for dinner.  They
seemed to have the whole world to themselves.
There was more brushwood and undergrowth in
the woods now, not only fir trees, but many other
sorts.  More hiding ground for wild animals,
too--but that was not a serious danger till the
night should make them bold.\par

Nell unstrapped the little axe and looked
about for a dead sapling of a birch tree; when
she found it she bent it over double and split
the bend with a sharp blow of the axe.  Inside
was white pith dry as powder; with this and
dead sticks they made a small, round, red-hot
fire, as the Indians do, first scraping a place bare
on the edge of the bank where it was reasonably
flat.  Then they boiled tea in the billy-can, weak,
but hot, putting a little molasses sugar into it to
take off the bitterness.  Some of this they gave
to Robin when it was cooler--he was very fond of
tea.  For food they ate some pemmican and a
bit of Nell's bread.  They had brought what they
could carry--which was not much, of course--then
they would rely chiefly on soaked beans.\par

"We'll have bacon for supper," said Nell in
a comforting voice.  It went to her heart, rather,
to see David eating the dried meat without a
word of complaint; it was not very tempting,
because, though nourishing, it was rather tasteless.\par

Robin had dried fish.  That is the main food
of dogs in the winter.  Of course, when a deer is
shot, or rabbits and hares are trapped--or even
a fox--they get meat, but you cannot depend on
it in the snow time: these creatures get scarce,
because the hunting animals destroy them.\par

Next time they camped it was late afternoon,
when the dusk was beginning to shadow the
silent forest.  They were very tired.  Not so
tired as an inexperienced pair would have been,
but certainly very tired and stiff--the muscles
of the legs suffered from these long hours of
snowshoe work.  But neither of them said a word.
David would not have admitted it for the world,
and Nell was too thankful for the successful day's
journey to complain about aches.\par

The night camp was a more serious affair than
the "dinner" one.  First they scraped out a
wide place on the bank just below a high pitch of
rock.  There was a good deal of rock about in
places which would mean rapids and waterfalls
presently, all sorts of inconveniences to stop the
pace of their journey.  But in this position they
were glad of it, because it seemed to wall them
off from the lonely woods, also it made a shelter
from the chill wind that moaned through the spaces.\par

Then they gathered dead wood.  At least,
David did that while Nell unlashed the load and
got out the sleeping bags, the bacon and frying-pan,
and big, thick stockings to change into in
case their feet were damp--which always was the
case, and might mean frost-bite or, at least,
serious chill, unless attended to.\par

They regularly walled themselves in from the
forest.  On one side was the rock wall, on the
other the sled turned up on its side, and so
making rather a good barrier in between the
snow scraped up into a high fence, while the
fourth side was open to the river--their icy,
snow-covered road.  Not every part of the banks
was convertible in this practical way.  You
could go for long stretches and pass only masses
of brushwood and rocks overhanging the course
of the stream, but this place Nell's careful eye
singled out as just right for a night camp.\par

First, after this barricading, came the fire and
collection of a fine heap of dead wood for the
night.  Then supper--fried bacon, bread, and
tea; then the changing of foot-gear, and finally
the two crawled into their fur-lined bags, feet
foremost, and drew them up over their heads.
That is the only way to keep warm, because
otherwise the cold air is bound to creep in somewhere.
If you cover your head as well, you may feel a
bit stuffy, but you are not cold.\par

Robin, who had no bushy tail to curl round
over his nose and toes as the husky dogs do,
came and made his bed between their two bags.
And then there was silence in the strange, lonely
camp, miles away from a human habitation.
The boughs overhead and the over-reaching
rock protected them from falling snow, but
every now and then a flake sizzled on to the fire.
The light of the burning wood cast a pink glow
on the snow wall of their barrier, and with all
the loneliness and cold there was a sense of
comfort and even security.\par

Nell had arranged the pile of fresh wood close
to her head so as to be within reach for
replenishing the fire.  For a time she could not
sleep--in spite of the terribly long day just
passed and the sleepless night of work before
that.  She could not throw off the feeling of
responsibility, or that liveliness of mind that
made her obliged to keep on following the doings
of Jan Stenson in her imagination.  Had they
escaped him or would he follow?\par

Twice she rose on her elbow and reached out
of her bag to throw handfuls of wood on the
fire, both times Robin raised his head to watch
her doings, and she saw the shine of the flame
light on his deep-set eyes.  David was sound
asleep, jerking a little and making grunts and
distressful noises, as his hardworked muscles
reminded him of the day's labour.\par

Then the girl fell asleep, too, deeply asleep;
and the camp was quite still but for the faint
crackle of wood as the fire died down.\par

It was about midnight when Nell was roused
by a low growling from the hound.  It must have
gone on for some time before the girl realised it,
because she was aware of it in her dreams after a
fashion.  But she was so deeply asleep that waking
herself was like coming up out of a well, by slow
stages.\par

Then she put her nose cautiously out of her
furry nest and gazed round.  It was dark, except
for the faint paleness of the snow, for of course
the rock barricade made a blackness, and the
trees were fairly thick above.  Of the fire
remained only a scatter of red sparks and white ashes.\par

Nell raised herself to a sitting posture, bag and
all, and stayed absolutely quiet, looking about
to realise what the trouble was, if any.  She did
not attempt to put wood on the fire even.  She
hardly breathed.\par

From somewhere close, but not on the ground,
came a very slight crack, the crack of dead wood.
This was nothing, because the weight of snow
would break a twig any time, apart from the
movings of grey squirrels, chipmunks or other
furry things that made shelters in the hollows of
trunks.  She was not afraid.  Indeed, she firmly
believed that there was only one event that could
shake her peace of mind seriously, and that was
the knowledge that the trapper was really on
their trail.\par

She was just going to lie down again when
something made her look up at the top of the rock
that shielded them on the side they had made
their beds.  It might have been ten or twelve
feet--hardly more--and perpendicular, but a
broken surface mostly grown over with the coarse
grey tinted moss that deer eat in winter.\par

At the top, directly above the sleeping-place,
shone two pale green lights.  They were close
together, and terribly bright and evil.  They
glared out of pitch darkness on the rock top, and
Nell felt a shock as she met fully the utter
malevolence of the stare.  Like the eyes in a picture
that seem to follow the person who looks at them,
these eyes appeared to meet Nell's horrified
gaze, but a moment after she realised that they
were most likely watching something else.  Then
she saw the something else, and that startled
her almost as much as the eyes.\par

Attracted perhaps by the smell of food and
the warmth of the glowing embers, another
creature of the forest was peering cautiously
round the end of the upturned sled.  Probably
it had been creeping about the silent camp for
some time, and hearing no sound ventured to
inspect farther.\par

When Nell had moved to sit up, she had done
so with the ease and swift silence of any other
woodland dweller.  Now she remained as still
as sleeping David, except that she shifted one
hand very, very gently on to Robin's head--as
a check; by the twitch of his forehead she {\itshape{felt}}
his eyes watching.  So they stayed, frozen as it
were, while the searcher came round the end of
the sled and stood still.\par

It looked very big against the snow, but the
girl knew how to allow for the dimness and the
uncertain jumps of light from the wood sparks.
She was not sure if it was an opossum, a fox, or a
big wild cat.  Either of the two last would be
likely to be hunting at night.  Then she saw as
it drew nearer that it was carrying some animal
in its jaws.  It had been hunting in the river
bank close by and caught a rabbit, or perhaps a
musk-rat, and the warmth had attracted it into
the circle of the little camp.  It was a cat.  A
wild cat, of course, one of the great strong
specimens that the trappers called catamounts,
and quite possibly mate to the one that had bitten
Andrew Lindsay.  It carried its prey with head
held rather high, as a household cat carries a
mouse, and it stepped with the same wonderfully
cautious delicacy, the big bushy tail drooping.
Body close to the ground it crawled forward, and
presently crouched, growling over its catch, as
a cat growls.\par

Robin's growl had ceased when Nell touched
him.  He simply watched in silence, having no
desire at all to tackle a wild cat in fair fight!
Unless he disabled the enemy at the first
onslaught he would get the worst of the battle most
likely, and in any case might lose his sight and
be torn in rags.  He knew all about wild cats
and left them, and a few other unpleasant forest
people, severely alone.\par

The girl was not afraid, for she had always
heard that a wild cat will never attack first unless
it is shut into a confined space or is caught in a
trap.  Out in the woods it will run--as a rule.\par

Crouching down, it began to eat the rabbit,
stopping every second and staring round with
ferocious menace for any enemy.  Then it saw
the green eyes on the top of the rock, and shrank
into itself with a sort of spitting shriek.  Robin
shifted his position and pressed close to his
mistress--the shriek was horrible, undoubtedly.\par

Nell became uneasy.  She did not like those
terrible eyes on the rock top, but reasoned in
her own mind that the other animal--whatever
it was--was interested in the catamount, and
neither would interfere with her.  Nevertheless,
her hand stole to her pistol pocket and she got
out the weapon, to be ready.\par

Now the beast on the rock was hungry, as
forest creatures mostly are in the winter.  It had
been attracted to the camp by the smell of bacon,
and probably been sitting up there for hours
with the intent patience of a wild thing.  The
appearance of the cat had changed the attraction.
Here was a rabbit, in plain view, and the sight of
the other beast eating was too great a provocation.\par

The pale green eyes seemed to send out flames
of rage, and a snarl came from the rock top that
was every bit as fiendish as the cat's shriek.\par

Nell knew pretty well that she had only to
throw a handful of sticks on to the smouldering
embers to drive both wild beasts into hiding.
But with curiosity was mixed a good deal of
excitement.  She wanted to see what they would
do.  They were taken up with one another,
anyhow, and when you live in the woods, the
doings of the creatures become as interesting as
very exciting books.  Never had it come her way
to see a catamount defend its supper--or early
breakfast--from a lynx; she fully believed the
watcher on the rock top to be that, most savage,
perhaps, of all the cat tribe.\par

\label{a-midnight-battle}%
\hypertarget{a-midnight-battle}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER VII}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ A MIDNIGHT BATTLE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
For perhaps three minutes the two creatures
spat and screamed at each other.  David
awakened, uncovered his face cautiously and
gazed about with interest.  Then he murmured:\par

"I say, Nell, just look!"\par

"I know," her voice was equally low pitched.\par

"What'll they do?"\par

"Oh, run away.  The cat won't fight the lynx."\par

"Is it a lynx?  Snakes, what a row!  I say,
Nell, that cat yells like a slate pencil with a bit
of wire in it screaming down a slate.  Doesn't it
make your teeth feel gritty?" he giggled.\par

"Hush," warned Nell.\par

"They don't hear, they are jolly busy.  Oh, I {\itshape{say}}!"\par

This last "I say" was caused by a new movement
on the part of the lynx.  It was very hungry,
and had no intention of letting that rabbit be
eaten by a mere wild cat if anything could be
gained by interfering!  Evidently it ran or
jumped from the rock top to the snow barrier,
for the two malevolent green eyes suddenly
glared palely from the bank.  Then Nell saw the
dark crouching shape run round on to the
upturned sled.  She was sure now it was a lynx,
she could distinguish the heavy, powerful hind
legs and the bob tail, then in a moment, right
across the faint glow of the fire, the flat, wicked
face with the tufted ears laid back.\par

But the great wild cat held on to the rabbit.
There was no time to eat, but it would not run,
as, of course, the lynx expected.  They are terrible
creatures and will fight almost anything that
does fight in the forest.  Their teeth, and the
knife-like talons on their powerful hind legs
make them dangerous everywhere.  Nell wished
the cat would run and be done with it all.  She
put out her hand to the wood pile, meaning to
throw some sticks on the fire that glowed dully
between them and these dangerous neighbours,
when David saw what she intended and urged
her not to.\par

"Don't, Nell, it'll send them off with one
jump.  Do let's see what they'll do!"\par

"But, Da----"\par

"Oh, I know they are awful brutes, but we've
never had a chance of seeing a catamount stand
up to a lynx.  Do wait!"\par

Nell gave in.  All the same, she was not sure
it was wise, and she kept a bunch of sticks in
her hand ready to beat on the smoulder of the fire
with them and so drive about a shower of sparks,
supposing the fighters became too unpleasant.\par

Robin was uneasy, but he remained as before,
just watchful.  Both Nell and David knew that
he would fight a wolf, but not a lynx--not if he
could possibly get out of it, anyway.\par

The wild cat was drawn up into a hoop,
looking like a picture of a huge witch cat.  It
was a picture, too, of rage indescribable, one
paw holding down the rabbit, one lifted, as it
screeched at the crouching lynx on the top of
the sled.  Every tooth in its stretched, open
mouth was bare, and its ears lay flat and close.
The face of the lynx was like a wicked mask in
front of its hunched-up body.\par

Then, in a second the suspense was over, and
the noise that followed was like nothing Nell had
ever heard in all her years of forest life.  The
silence of the woods seemed to be split and
shaken by the hideous yowls and screeches of the
furious beasts as they struggled for a mastery.
Most people have heard two cats fight.  If that
can be imagined at least twenty times worse, and
in the profound stillness of winter night in a
snow-laden forest, that is what the girl and boy heard.\par

The bodies of the two wild creatures rolled,
bounded, and spun in one raging ball.  No one
could have told which was which.\par

David scrambled to his feet, bag and all, and
leaned against the rock watching, too intent to
notice Nell's actions.  She did what she had
wanted to do in the first place, threw a handful
of dried sticks on the twinkling red ashes.
Amongst the sticks were some dead birch
saplings.  These burst into a flame almost on the
instant, and a rush of crackling light streamed
up into the air, making the tree boles look pink,
like the rosy tinted snow.\par

In that same instant Nell saw that the cat was
uppermost, with teeth fastened in the face of the
lynx.  He would not give way, but the lynx was
killing him by terrible strokes of those razor-like
claws which were lashing at the soft underpart
of the catamount's body.\par

This she saw in a sort of instantaneous vision.
Then the leaping flame did its work.  With one
spasmodic movement the mad beasts fell apart.
The lynx ran away, crouching close to the snow,
with a curious hunched movement of his strong
hind legs, and the great cat disappeared in two
bounds, leaving a trail of dark stains on the
snow.  He was shockingly hurt.\par

"Oh, I say, why {\itshape{did}} you, Nell?" cried David.\par

"I wasn't going to have the catamount killed,"
said his sister firmly.  "I loathe lynxes.  Their
faces are as wicked as demons.  I believe they
are demons."\par

"Cats are pretty well as bad.  It was a catamount
that bit Dad, Stenson said."\par

"It was in a trap," Nell excused the cat
briskly.  "Of course they're savage, they are
wild animals, but I didn't want that lynx to
triumph.  Who got the rabbit?  It was the cat's
own rabbit."\par

"Poor rabbit," said David.\par

Then they both laughed.  It was such a very
mad sort of scene, as Nell said.\par

David walked round the fire cautiously and
found the rabbit.  There it was, left on the
battered battlefield.  He picked it up gingerly.\par

"If we knew where the catamount was, we
might go to him and say, 'Here is your rabbit.'  As
we don't, Robin had better have it.  He won't
mind.  He didn't get much supper.  We've got
to make our food last."\par

Robin did not seem to mind much, and so the
other two let him finish the poor cat's find,
while they divided a bit of Nell's bread between
them.  It was cold.  They were both rather
weary all over, but they laughed and neither one
nor the other confessed to that weariness, for
this was only the beginning of the trail.\par

Nell decreed just one more hour in their bags,
and then they must break camp and get off with
dawn.  She got no more sleep herself, that
interlude had been too strenuous.  She lay warm
in her fur bag thinking--thinking, as the dark
turned into grey.  Then she got out of her bag
and started on the morning work, perhaps the
most miserable and difficult time in the twenty-four
hours of a day's trail.  The stiffness had not
gone out of her tired muscles, her hands seemed
stupid with the bitter morning chill.  But Nell
said never a word.  She was leader, and it was
her job to keep the flag flying, whatever she felt
herself.\par

Soon the fire was blazing and the billy-can
hung over it to boil water.  Then she got out
her treat, the special secret she had planned for
the two first mornings.  In the bag with the
foodstuffs and utensils she had hidden a tight-lidded
can of ready-made oatmeal porridge.  There was
always a sack of the coarse kind at the log house,
and so Nell had boiled enough--or rather taken
what was boiling--it was always ready at home.
Only enough for two mornings, but even that
would be a help.  "One wants breaking in by
degrees," thought poor Nell as her blue hands
stirred the porridge.\par

David woke and saw it; what he said about
that surprise made things very cheerful.  Later
on there grew a faint pinkness, low between the
trees.  The snow had ceased to fall, and far away
the sun was rising on the white world.  Nell did
not say so, because her principle always was
never to look for trouble, or to express dread of
a possible one, but it was a pity the snow had
ceased to fall.  Moreover, either the shelter of
the wood made the air less bitter or it really was
warmer.  And she did not want a thaw--not
yet.  There was that long, long river road ahead,
and though the ice would remain thick, a thaw
would start the little streamlets in the hills,
thousands of small springs would trickle down
into the river bed, and that would set the water
swelling and lifting under the ice.\par

There was the more need for hurry.  That
was the way she looked at it.  So breakfast was
eaten, the sled neatly packed, and the party on
the trail again before true daylight.\par

The first thing they came across as they
turned into the river road was the dead body of
the catamount.  Nell was sorry about it.  The
great brindled beast was so torn and disfigured.\par

"After all, it was his rabbit," she said again.
"I hate lynxes."\par

"The lynx got an ugly one in the eye all the
same," suggested David.  "It's not feeling very
lively this morning."\par

So they left their first camp and sped away and
away again along the white road, eating up the
miles.  Their spirits rose after the first effort,
because it seemed so easy.  The stiffness wore
off and they seemed to grow stronger.  The only
thing that worried Nell at all was the thaw.  It
made the snow soft, so that the trail was heavy,
and every now and then they heard the tiny
trickle sound that meant water from somewhere.\par

Again, supposing they were followed, the
trail was deep and obvious.  Of course, if the
thaw continued the snow would go into a slush,
but at present the track lay horribly plain, long
ruts made by the sled runners and the print of
Robin's feet.\par

However, there was no use lamenting what
could not be helped, but it made Nell more anxious
than she showed in her manner.  They stopped
every now and then to change places, and made
the longer halt about twelve for dinner as before.
They were so hot with pulling that there was
not the least hankering after hot food, which was
a comfort, as the meal was made off pemmican
as before.\par

It was late afternoon, and when they were
beginning to get tired--really tired, that the
first serious check came in the long hours of
swift progress.\par

The thaw seemed to have ceased and an icy
wind got up, moaning dismally in the tree-tops.
The river, which had been always rather narrow,
widened out within a sort of gorge of rocks and
brushwood.  The bed of it began to slope
slightly in a long series of what would be rapids
when the water was flowing, and then, on a
turn, they came to the rocky dip of a high waterfall.
Frozen it was still, of course.  One mass of
ice and snow.  Rather a terrible place in the
strange stillness of its hold-up.  And everywhere
rocks--rocks and steep, difficult places blending
with the forest.\par

"And {\itshape{now}} what next?" said David, looking about.\par

"Let's look round first," his sister answered
cautiously.\par

So they left the sled, and taking Robin they
made an examination of both sides of the fall.
This was a long business, but it ended in the
discovery that the river made a sharp loop here,
as well as a fall, and their best plan would be to
drag the sled through the wood--down the hill,
of course--cut across the loop, and pick up the
river again about a mile below.\par

It was going to delay them some time, and
both of them were too well versed in scoutcraft
to think for a moment that it would confuse
the trail or shake off a pursuer, because what they
had done would be so obvious.  However, it
could not be helped, and so Nell, keen to get it
over, decided to start on this overland bit at
once.  David was willing enough, but they soon
found the business was a worse job than their
worst fears had reached.\par

A yard or two at a time, and then it became a
matter of going far round some impossible
obstacle, cutting a way through impassable
undergrowth, or letting the sled down a rock
wall.  And darkness was closing in.\par

\label{the-mysterious-camp-fire}%
\hypertarget{the-mysterious-camp-fire}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER VIII}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE MYSTERIOUS CAMP FIRE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
Nell decreed that the second night's camp
was to be here.  They could not go over
such difficult ground in the dark, besides which
the only way to go was to unpack the sled and
carry the load down piecemeal.\par

"So," explained Nell, "we may as well stop here
now, and instead of loading the sled to-morrow
morning we'll take the packs down on our backs
and then carry the sled.  It'll be easiest in the end."\par

David was entirely willing.  In fact, any plan
would have pleased him that did not involve
going on just then!  They set to vigorously to
clear a place this time.  It was a case of axe
first, and then using their snowshoes to scrape
aside the snow and tangled mess of brushwood.
They were pretty well surrounded by rocky
hillocks and dense undergrowth, but Nell was
content.  "We seem safe," she said.\par

Then, seeing David standing still, apparently
listening, she asked him what the matter was?\par

"It's the frozen waterfall," said the boy.
"Queer it is how you miss the noise that ought
to be there.  You feel as if the river was holding
its breath, just for a minute, and then it would
go--{\itshape{crash}}!  Don't you remember what a row
it makes in the summer on the rocks--you can
hear it for miles.  Nell, how many miles have
we come, do you think?"\par

Nell thought thirty--in the two days.  David
was disappointed, but the girl shook her head.\par

"You've got to remember how the stream
winds about.  That's the nuisance of it all.  If
you could go to Moose River as the geese and
swans fly--well----"\par

"Wish we could," said the boy, and then,
"never mind, we are jolly lucky to have got so
far.  I expect we're pretty safe now, Nell, don't
you?"\par

"Hope so," said the girl.  She could not say
she believed so--yet.\par

The camp was a success in that it was very
sheltered and cosy, but the funniest thing
happened to start with almost.  The kit was
unpacked for cooking and easier conveyance in the
morning.  Nell put the neat bundles of pelts in
place for pillows--rather a good idea.  The two
had made a good meal of bacon, beans, and tea,
and were sitting very quietly in the warmth of
the fire changing their foot-gear and greasing
their weary feet.  It was a moment of peace.
Robin raised his head and growled faintly in
his throat.  He was lying on his side, all four
feet stretched to the fire and head close to Nell.
She laid her hand on his ears, and then looked
where his frowning eyes were gazing--something
was pushing through the brushwood towards
the camp circle.\par

In a moment it appeared, and with it came a
curious dry, rattling sound.\par

It strolled along grubbing a busy snout under
dead leaves and rubbish, a hedgehog--quite the
most independent of all the forest creatures,
because no other animal will attempt to interfere
with it or risk being shot by one of the deadly
spines of its queer armoured coat.  Even a lynx
makes a wide circuit round a hedgehog, because
if he's angry and ejects a quill--or spine--and
that sticks, nothing the wounded beast can do
will get it out.  The spine goes on working
itself in and in, and often causes blood poisoning,
apart from the horrible pain.\par

Master Hedgehog trotted into the circle of
light entirely unashamed, having no reason to
fear any person.  He was attracted, because the
snow was scraped away and a chance offered of
finding amongst the stuff underneath a few
grubs or beetles as food in these hungry days.
He routed about with his odd little pig-like
snout, taking no more notice of the campers
than he would have done of a bear, a wolf, or a
skunk.  No one could touch him.  Nell laid a
restraining hand on Robin, who was watching
intently, but there was no need, the black dog
knew all about hedgehogs.\par

Presently this very self-contained visitor trotted
away into the brushwood, rustling his spines as
he went.  David laughed and said it was a pity
not to have shot the little pig.\par

"We could have baked him in the ashes, Nell,"
he added regretfully.\par

"We mustn't fire shots unless we are forced,"
she answered, "that would never do.  Do you
remember the story Dad told us about that fox
that tried all ways to get a hedgehog in snow
time and couldn't?  So he burrowed a tunnel
in the snow and came up under the hedgehog
and bit it underneath.  Horribly clever, foxes are.
I rather love them, don't you, Da?  They are
so clever."\par

Everything seemed to promise a peaceful
night.  The two got into their fur bags in peace
and quiet.  The night was still, there was no
sound but the slipping of snow from branches,
as the weight shifted a little in the thaw.\par

And then Nell found she could not sleep.  She
had that kind of busy mind that seems straining
after sounds.  The fact was she was anxious,
though she would not allow it.  Her mind was
craving to get on, and on.  She would have liked
to travel all night as well as all day, but had to
keep up a sort of pretence of ease and security
for fear of worrying David too much.  He would
have taken it to heart, and the strain would have
been too great, joined to the hard day's pulling.\par

Hour after hour the girl lay still, only moving
to keep the fire up.  She would have given
anything to feel sleepy and to stop thinking.  She
could not forget those precious leather bags that
she felt against her side; the presence of them
forced her to keep on thinking about the long
miles ahead before she could put them in safety.\par

Presently something else began to disturb her.
That queer feeling of certainty that someone is
near.  She heard no special sound, yet the sense
of a presence grew and grew till the commonest
noises made her jump.  When the faint grey of
dawn began to creep around the little camp, she
crawled out of her bag and stood up.  Robin
sprang up too and shook himself, then he stretched
a very long stretch and yawned, looking at his
mistress in an interested way.\par

Nell took him by the ears and whispered to
him that he must stop and look after David.  She
was going a very short way, but he must guard
the camp.  Robin sank down against the boy's
side with a sigh.  He wanted to go, but he knew
his duty.  The girl looked to the priming of her
pistol, then she stole away alone, into the forest.\par

She made a circle round the camp, and when
she came to her starting-point followed on again
in a still wider circle.  After that the high rocks
forming the gates of the waterfall stopped a
complete circle.  She turned and went back
outside her own track.\par

It was difficult, because of the roughness, but
she persevered, to be rewarded, for quite suddenly
she came upon the ashes of a little camp fire.
Kneeling down she felt the patch, the ashes were
still warm.\par

The place lay to the north-west of their own
camp--that was, on the back track behind them.
Whoever made that fire was following the sled
pullers most likely and was travelling light
himself, for there was no trace of sled runners.
Nell sought very anxiously for his trail both to
and from the fire, but it was purposely
confused--concealed in the shrewdest way.  Just here and
there Nell saw obvious "spoor" of human
passage.  Then it was gone.\par

The fire was very small and round, showing the
camp of a "sour-dough," as an experienced
hand is called in the north.  But no more could
she feel certain of.  There was another very odd
thing.  It did not appear that this traveller had
found the camp of the fugitives.  He had stopped
for the night in this place, and presumably gone
on before the break of day.\par

The girl comforted herself with this reflection.
It might be a trapper on his own business passing
from one district to another, but unconscious
of her and David.  She would have liked to go
back along the river trail to look for his spoor,
but time was pressing seriously.  As she went
"home" with flying feet she cogitated whether
it would be wise to tell David, and ended in
telling him.  After all, they were doing the job
in partnership!\par

She woke him from sound sleep when she got
in, and told him while the fire was burning up.
He said nothing for a few minutes.  Then he
made a practical suggestion.\par

"If we take Robin to that camp fire and start
him on the scent, he'll follow it up and be on
the man all right."\par

"But," said Nell firmly, "we are running
away from the trapper.  What's the sense of
going after him?"\par

David began to laugh, and laughed so much in
a silent and suppressed manner that he rolled
over.  Robin looked at them both with such a
puzzled gaze under his frowning forehead that
it made them both laugh the more.  After that
they felt better, and decided to go ahead, thanking
God if the man had passed them and gone racing
on under a misapprehension.  There was a lot
of heavy work to do in the portage of the sled
and packs, Nell knew they would not gain very
much in distance--the pursuer might, of course,
get on miles before them.\par

Snowshoes were very little use at the present,
so they slung them on their backs in readiness,
and after breakfast made tracks for the lower
reach of the river, carrying the bundles of pelts.
The stream was winding and very rugged altogether.
The first falls were followed by another
wild and rocky gorge, where the water must race
furiously down in summer time.  It was some
distance before the two could force a way down
to a place that looked like a new start, and plain
sailing, as it were, for the fresh road.  But they
did come to it at last, and the snow was smooth
and spotless.  No one had been before them,
certainly, on the river.\par

They put the bundles in safety and went back.
The way back did not seem so far--it never does,
even in a land of roads.  The camp was
untouched, and again they loaded themselves with
as much as they could carry.  Finally they
returned for the sled and the sleeping bags.  Then
Robin went with them.  Up till then he had been
guarding the family property, much against his
will, but duty demanded the sacrifice of his
feelings.\par

Then, after a rest and a meal, they started again
on the untrodden road.  Nor was it very easy going
on a fresh trail of softening snow.  They made
themselves very hot, but they were hopeful and
contented, because Nell was sure they would
reach the lake that day, and somehow the lake
appeared to them a landmark--a great gain--a
sort of half-way house!  It would not be half-way,
hardly a quarter of the way, but at any rate it
was a bad quarter, for the farther they went the
nearer they must come to friends and human
habitations.\par

It was during this tough bit of the journey
that Nell told David about the post-house and
the cache, that is to say, the reason before hinted
why they had so little food with them.  On the
other side of the lake which they must soon cross
was a small shack.  Just one little room with a
rusty stove and a bunk or two.  It had been set
up for the convenience of trappers in the coldest
time, and was used by any of them going east to
Moose River.\par

Andrew Lindsay had told his daughter that
close to one angle of this hut he had made a
cache.  That is to say, he had buried in a small
pit and covered over invisibly a certain amount
of canned food, with tea, tobacco, candles,
matches, and such little matters as knives, an
axe, and so on.  A trapper learns by experience
that he may be left with nothing, so, like a
squirrel hiding nuts, he makes his cache for a
reserve store.\par

Nell was counting on this; moreover, it had
more than once occurred to her that, in case of
dangerous pursuit she might cache the money
she was carrying, but that would be decided by
circumstances.\par

\label{how-the-great-bull-fled-for-his-life}%
\hypertarget{how-the-great-bull-fled-for-his-life}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER IX}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ HOW THE GREAT BULL FLED FOR HIS LIFE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
All the afternoon they laboured on and on,
and by degrees two things came to pass.
The woods thinned, there were open spaces,
the banks grew lower and more open.  They
were coming to the lake.\par

The other obvious change was in the wind.
It had veered to the north and blew bitterly cold,
while fine particles of frozen snow began to
strike the travellers faster and faster.  As it
grew dusk the air was freezing hard, and that
wind from the north was getting up.\par

Then, also in a moment, the white expanse
of the lake spread before their eyes--dim and
shadowy, lost in the distance.\par

Nell's heart sank a bit at that moment.  It was
all so fearfully dreary and exposed.  The forest
they had passed through seemed a friendly
shelter beside this!  But it had to be faced.  The
river passed through it and the journey must be
taken up again--away over there in the far-away
dimness--where the stream poured out, wider,
going east to join the Moose River.\par

"I suppose," said Nell, looking round with
carefully assumed indifference, "we'd better
camp here.  It's getting dark."\par

"Not much shelter," David suggested.  "Hope
it isn't going to work up a blizzard."\par

His sister was sure it was late in the year for a
blizzard.  She said that, but in her heart she
knew that April was an uncertain month always.
She stood looking and looking, while the blowing
fur tails hid the troubled expression of her face.\par

"Come along," she said at last, "round by the
north bank, we'll go--there," she pointed some
distance along to the left with her fur-mittened
hand.\par

David asked why not straight across--it was
level and easier.\par

"Is it because of the trail?" he asked.  "The
snow will cover that.  Just look how it's coming
down."\par

Nell said it was because of the river stream.
She was a little afraid of ice bridges, or holes
under the snow.  The stream in the middle
would be swifter than the sides.  You never
know how the surface freezes, or where the
strong stream begins to make its way beneath.
The girl thought of all that, because she had been
here with her father and he had shown her what
to beware of as the spring thaws approached.
This was important, while David's mention of
their trail was also a point.  She decided that
they would not go on to the lake, at present.
They would follow a more difficult way around
the north side and make a camp when they had
put some distance between themselves and the
place where the river entered the lake.\par

With this intention then they first did some
confusing work.  They struck out straight ahead
over the snow; then, having gone some distance
came back on their own tracks to the starting-place,
took off their snowshoes and climbed the
bank, lifting the sled over obstacles.  It was
strenuous work, but it could be done for a yard
or two, and all they wanted was to hide their
start.  Having reached a bare stretch beyond
brushwood clumps, Nell went back to obliterate
the trail.  In this she was helped by the wind,
which, blowing harder and harder in icy gusts,
whirled the snow round about in eddies, scattering
it afresh in finest powdery flakes.\par

"All the better," said Nell, panting a little as
she climbed the slope again.  "Now then, Da,
'on, on we go,' as our old spelling book
said--next thing is a camp.  This blizzardy wind is
beastly, but it's helping us all the time."\par

David agreed as he always did, bravely coming
up to the scratch at all times in his sister's steps.
All the same, he had never in his life felt
worse--that is to say, more exhausted and despondent.
The thought of having to set to again and make
a camp, and a fire, if it would burn, and then face
the night almost unprotected, was not cheering.
However, Nell was right about the blizzard; the
advantages made up for the misery.\par

As long as they could they went along the north
shore of the lake itself, close to the bank.  They
returned to it, because of the much easier going,
of course, after they had confused the trail by a
land tramp of perhaps half a mile.  That was
awfully hard and could not have continued much
longer, as their strength was giving out owing to
the obstacles.\par

Presently, when it became increasingly difficult
to see, Nell pulled up at a place where the
shore formed some small protection, because the
land rose in a slope with trees on the higher
part.  They could not camp on the ice here, so
they landed in a likely place, hopeful of shelter
from the snow-laden bushes, and began to make
what preparation they could.\par

To tell the truth, even Nell could have cried at
that moment.  But there is a great deal in being
responsible "boss" of anything!  You can't let
yourself go if you have real grit, and she had plenty.\par

They scraped and scraped at the snow till they
reached down to the frozen bank and made a
sort of barrier.  A great deal of it blew back
again, but that had to be borne.  Fortunately the
fire was kind enough to burn--the worst of the
storm had not come then--and they were able
to get a meal of hot tea and bacon.  It made a
great difference.  Then, protected in a small
measure by the upturned sled and the bundles,
the bushes, and the heaped up snow, they got
ready for "bed."  At the last moment Nell did
rather a clever thing.  She scraped the fire off
its first place lower down, making it up again
with a good bundle of wood.  Then she and
David lay down in their bags on the hot, dried
ground where the fire had just been built.  It
answered so well that they both fell asleep at
once in spite of the increasing storm.\par

Nell was very weary indeed.  The burden was
a growing one, because she had had so little rest
in forty-eight hours of strenuous work.  Therefore
a cry from David close to her ears seemed to
ring in her head for hours before she realised
that he was shaking her shoulder and calling to
her in rather an agitated voice, for him.  Then
she was awake on the instant.  Wide awake and
throwing sticks on the dying embers, for the one
thing necessary at that instant was obviously a fire.\par

"It's {\itshape{wolves}}," David was saying.  "But, Nell,
they stop up north as a rule, don't they?  I say,
what a beastly row."\par

Nell was loading the little Winchester.  She
heard the "beastly row" very clearly, but did
not show agitation.\par

"They are after something," she said.  "Don't
you remember once before when we heard them
at home Dad said they'll follow some animal
that is trying to escape for miles--a hundred
miles--any distance till it is exhausted.  They
are so persistent when they are hungry, I expect
it's a deer, poor thing!"\par

"Bucks are awfully clever at confusing their
own trails though," urged David, who hated to
think of wolves succeeding, "they'll jump thirty
feet sideways bang into bushes to throw those
beasts off the scent.  I do think they are clever.
I say, Nell, there's one good thing!"\par

"What?"\par

"Why the wind.  It's blowing hard from them
to us.  That's why we hear them so plainly--don't
you see?  If it was the other way they'd
get scent of us.  Jolly thing they can't!"\par

"It is," said Nell decidedly, inwardly praying
that the wolves would stay on the north side, but
that depended on which way the hunted creature fled.\par

The two crouched low under the snow wall,
waiting and listening to those howls that had
roused David.  It was a dreadful sound--the
howling of the wolf pack in full cry after its
flying prey.  The weird shriek of it came down
the wind in gusts.  Perhaps the horrible brutes
were at fault!  Nell hoped so.  David said so,
he was anxious to help the deer if that were
possible, but his sister preferred to remain
entirely apart!  One does not want to get mixed
up with wolves on such a night.\par

The noise of the howling grew louder, and Nell
threw a good armful of dead wood on the blaze
to rouse a high flame.  She and David were
standing up gazing anxiously over their snow wall
up the slope of the shore, when suddenly they
received a shock that was very startling.\par

Out of the driving whiteness of the blown snow
loomed a huge plunging shape.  It was lurching
down the bank directly on to them--like a
nightmare in a very horrid dream--when
apparently it saw the fire, and checked.  For a
moment the two in the camp were aware of
amazing antlers and a long distorted face, then
the creature swerved with a fine effort, bounded
aside with a loud blowing snort, and took to the
lake some yards beyond, higher up.\par

"Did you see--did you see?" David was
shaking his sister's arm in excitement.\par

"Don't, Da, I've got the rifle.  Put more wood
on the fire, quick.  Hark to the others!"\par

"Poor old chap, he's got a start," said the boy,
piling on wood and glancing back up the hill.
"I wish you could kill the lot, Nell."\par

Nell laughed in spite of everything.\par

"I!  Let's hope they won't notice us, if
they're hot on the old bull's trail."\par

The weird howling drew nearer, till the bitter
blast of the north wind seemed full of it, and
then--sudden as the appearance of the desperate
bull moose--shadows flitted over the rise as
though they were part of the snowstorm.\par

Nell fully expected one or more of the wolves
to come over the barrier, though she knew the
fire would frighten them, but the pack, about
eight or ten at the outside, were running close
together on the hot scent of the big moose.
Perhaps the fire did scare them aside, as it had
scared him.  The darkness swallowed them, and
the fierce long-drawn cry of the howl lessened as
the wind caught it.  They were gone, over the lake.\par

When Nell felt Robin's coat she noted that his
hackles were stiff and his throat quivering with
deep growls.  Robin could put up with most of
the wild folk--after a fashion--but wolves made
him furious!  All three of the party sat down
again close to the fire, and comforted themselves
with hot tea and dried meat.\par

"Something happens every night," commented
David thoughtfully; "this was the queerest.
Who'd have thought of a bull moose down
here--and wolves!"\par

"How can we tell how far they'd come," said
Nell.  "He looked awfully done.  Da, his
antlers were jolly fine--all of seven feet across.  I
expect he was an old bull and that they singled
him out of the herd and kept him back from the
others--that's the way they do."\par

"I do hope he got away," said the boy again.\par

Nell hoped so, too, but she didn't think it
likely.  Wolves are fearfully persistent.\par

After a bit they went back to bed and actually
slept till a faint, faint pink light spread over the
flatness of the lake.\par

The wind was less keen, but it still blew the
snow about in eddies, and Nell was very eager
to be off while this help was on their side.\par

She looked back towards the river and the far
woods.  Nothing showed.  They struck camp
very quickly indeed, for her hurry was infectious.
She felt unsafe out here in the open, for figures
show a long way upon clean snow.\par

They kept to the edge more or less.  Not quite
the edge, because there is always a good deal of
rotten ice under the banks, but within a little of
it.  It was easier going, and of course Nell was
not quite sure where the river ran out of the
lake and onward.  She longed desperately for that
fresh start on the river road.  It would be
wonderful to have crossed the lake and be actually on
the straight track to Moose River.\par

All day they drove on and on, stopping once
or twice in likely places on the banks for a rest
and food.  This lake was not nearly so large as
the Abbitibbi Lake, or several others--it was
not so wide.  Away over the snow they could see
the opposite--the southern--shore.  But they
could not see the end.  It was probably twenty-five
miles long from the entrance of the river at
the west, to its exit in the east, and that's a long,
long way even on snowshoes, when you are on
the trail with a sled, even a light sled.\par

\label{the-camp-on-the-wolf-s-tooth-rocks}%
\hypertarget{the-camp-on-the-wolf-s-tooth-rocks}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER X}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE CAMP ON THE WOLF'S TOOTH ROCKS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
The dusk was falling again and the weary
travellers were looking eagerly for the
right sort of camping ground, when the most
startling thing happened.\par

As the miles were covered a feeling of security
was beginning to grow.  Why, they could not
have explained, except that they were naturally
hopeful, even when tired--which was a good
thing if you consider the strain to come still.
They did not complain of the biting wind, or of
the snow that continued to fall at intervals,
because it was a help towards safety in their
opinion.  Certainly it was far more difficult to
distinguish objects.\par

Nell gave a joyful exclamation as the right kind
of place loomed just ahead of them--a wooded,
rocky arm stretching out into the lake.  Had there
been water it would, of course, have been a
promontory; as it was it offered a screen and some
shelter.  It was much less exposed and hardly
the place that a bull moose would gallop over or
wolves be found on.  It was altogether promising.\par

"Here we camp," said Nell, and David
dropped his harness, stretching his arms with a
sigh of relief.\par

Leaving the sled they both climbed up the
steep and rocky bank, beating a way through
snow-covered juniper bushes on to the wooded
promontory.  Above the lake and sheltered to a
great extent, the place seemed ideal to their
hopes.  David began hacking a clear space with
quick strokes of the little axe--a woodman learns
that quick tentative stroke in the bitter north,
because in the frost his axe blade is liable to fly
into a thousand splinters like glass if used as it
would be in a warmer climate--a sort of brisk tap,
with caution.  Nell went down again to the sled
to bring up necessaries, for it was plainly labour
lost to haul the sled up on to the promontory.\par

In so doing her attention was drawn to the
dog Robin, who was not acting according to his
usual rule, which was to lie down and watch
while camp was made, waiting for his supper.
He moved restlessly about, nose to the ground,
this way and that, round, in and out, and presently
disappeared among the underwood.\par

When Nell got up to the top again, laden with
sleeping bags, food and utensils, David drew her
attention to this.\par

"Some animal," said Nell; "what a plague!
We must look out, Da, it might be a bear."\par

David thought it couldn't be.\par

"Bears are still asleep," he said.\par

"Not when thaws begin," Nell answered
decidedly, as she cherished the little flame in the
birch bark.  "Just a breath of warmer wind and
the old things wake up.  Dad says you can't
always count on them either, because they are so
hungry and there's nothing for them to eat--no
berries, no roots, no fish, because the streams
are not free, no nothing.  I hope it isn't a bear.
Robin couldn't fight a bear."\par

"We should have to make polite speeches to
it like the Red men do," said David.  "Oh,
what's the use of bothering when ninety-nine-to-one
it's only a chipmunk."\par

The fire burned up and a cosy glow danced on
the bushes that shielded the little open space.
The snow water began to bubble in the billy-can.
Nell was kneeling on the ground slicing
bacon into the pan when from the corner of her
eye she caught the movement of an alien shadow.
She sprang up with a swift movement in time to
see a shape melt backward into the underbrush.\par

Drawing her revolver the girl was in pursuit
on the instant.  David followed because she
went--he had seen nothing himself.  Nell dived
ahead with the quick judgment of a woodswoman
in choosing her path, and brought up suddenly in
utter astonishment within a few yards of the fire.\par\label{target-1}%
\hypertarget{target-1}{}%
{}

Motionless before her stood a figure wrapped
in the usual Indian blanket, moccasins on the
feet, head and arms muffled in the blanket.  The
only thing that moved was the curious roving
glance of the black eyes--absolutely black and
shining like a squirrel's.\par

For an Indian she was pretty, her skin being
much lighter in shade than that of the average
Redskin girl.  After the first shock of being
caught she smiled, showing most beautiful teeth.\par

"Shines-in-the-Night," said Nell, speaking in
a mixture of Chippewa and English, "you are very
far from the camp of your people.  Is it wise?"\par

"It is wise," answered the girl, and her voice
was very low and quite musical.  "My brother
the Lizard knows, and I also know, that the
trapper Little Eyes has a bad heart towards the
tall white sister.  She has known only his forked
tongue.  His heart is very black."\par

"It is black," agreed Nell, "but we are not
afraid, because the trail is lost and Little Eyes
will try in vain to find it when he goes back to
the log house of our father."\par

The Indian shook her head, her curious,
inscrutable eyes full of intelligence.\par

"My sister is deceived.  Little Eyes will not
return to the log house."  She held up one hand
and touched three of the fingers of it with the
other hand.  "One sun--Little Eyes leaves the
camp of my father the Pickerel and comes to the
log house.  He sees a writing on the door, with
fire and powder he blows away the lock, and long
time he searches in the house of my sister----"\par

"I {\itshape{said}} he would," muttered Nell to David aside.\par

"Brute!" said the boy.\par

Shines-in-the-Night glanced from one to the
other, then she went on:\par

"My brother the Lizard has seen these things.
I have followed the trail of my sister, while the
Lizard went to the Abbitibbi River in the footsteps
of Little Eyes.  I say that he will not return
to the log house.  It is empty.  He cannot find
that which he seeks.  Little Eyes has a quick
mind, it darts like the head of a snake.  He will
come across--see----"\par

Suddenly she went down on one knee and made
a little plan with bits of stick for the rivers.\par

In a flash Nell saw the danger.  Finding that
the girl and boy had not gone to the shack at
Abbitibbi River, the trapper could start at once
on a long slanting line to the foot of the lake
on which they were now camping.  He would
argue reasonably that they had followed the
course of their river, as the easiest trail, and must
cross the lake to follow on down to Moose River.
Therefore, the best--the most certain--place to
intercept them would be where the river left the
lake and went on again through the woods twenty
miles to the eastward.  He would not take the
trouble to chivy them all over the lake, simply
because they were quite sure to leave it by the
frozen river road, and there, where it was
comparatively narrow, he was bound to find the trail.\par

If he arrived before they did, he would wait,
knowing they had not passed.  If they went by
first he would see the trail and follow close on
their heels.\par

Either way it seemed as though he must catch them.\par

Poor Nell, very tired, cold, and hungry, felt
this blow more than she would have done had
she been fresh.  She looked at the bits of stick,
understanding well how the two rivers ran, side
by side, as it were, though so very many miles
apart, over a hundred miles.\par

"But he can't do it in the time," said David.
He had been watching the plan also with
interested eyes.  "Look at the miles he's had to go.
First from our shack across to Abbitibbi, then,
right away down to the base of the lake.  Look at it,
Nell, he couldn't do it in the time.  Four days!"\par

Nell said nothing.  She was remembering
vividly that one strong man alone on snowshoes,
travelling light, goes at least three times as fast
as they could at the best, with the sled, and the
handicap of inexperience on the long trail.
After all, David was but twelve, though he was
so big and strong, and that long day at the
waterfall rocks had been a set-back, while the trapper
was a very old hand and used to immense journeys
over the snow in the pursuit of his calling.\par

Shines-in-the-Night stood up again, and made
an eloquent gesture of one arm towards the
distant southern shore of the lake.\par

"We shall know," she said, "when the
Lizard comes across the snow.  I said to him at
the ending of the sun on this finger"--she held
up her fourth finger--"the tall white sister will
rest and make camp on the rock that is like a
wolf's tooth.  You shall come across and tell me,
and our hearts shall be like the heart of the fox
that is not deceived.  And now let my sister eat
and rest, for who shall say how soon she must
take the trail?"\par

"Oh, I say," ejaculated David, "I thought we
were in for a decent spell to-night."  Then
glancing at Nell he pulled himself together and
added, "It's awfully jolly of Shines-in-the-Night
to take such a lot of trouble."\par

"My sister's heart is very good towards us,"
said Nell gently.  "She is brave as the
cow-moose and kind as the wood-dove in summer.
It is well for us, and we will not forget.  Let her
come and eat with us now, that when the Lizard
comes we may be strong, if there is a long trail
to go without sleep or rest."\par

So it came to pass that in a few minutes the
three were resting at the camp fire, making a
good meal, and shortly after that David was
sound asleep.  Then Nell, sleeping as she had
not done for many nights, because of the sense
of security given her by the presence of the
Redskin girl who sat by the fire wrapped in her
blanket, feeding the flame at intervals and
listening with the acuteness of sense that gave
her hearing and instinct like an animal.\par

About midnight both the girl and the dog
raised their heads to listen, and two minutes
after they left the camp with movements
noiseless as a musk-rat and went down to the edge of
the lake.  The Lizard came back up the bank
with them.  He did not say he was exhausted, or
even tired, as a boy of any Western nation would
have done; it would have been quite beneath the
dignity of the son of a "brave" to make a
complaint.  He ate the food his sister gave to
him, offering bits to Robin--the "ninnymoosh"--and
he answered the questions she asked him
in their own musical tongue, in low tones and
few words.\par

Then Shines-in-the-Night shook Nell gently
by one shoulder, and the silent little camp was
roused to busy action all in a moment.\par

The Lizard had brought rather staggering
news.  So much so that Nell felt a sinking at the
heart.  Her spirit rose to meet it directly after,
but that required some pluck.\par

It appeared that the Indians were right.
Stenson had followed the plan they had
prophesied and was, even at that moment, camped
on the other shore of the lake, the southern shore
opposite.  Nor was he alone.  Another trapper
was with him, though, of course, the Lizard
could not tell his name.\par

Then the boy said something to Shines-in-the-Night,
and she passed it on to Nell.\par

"My brother the Lizard has seen the tall
white man--the father of my sister.  He is not
sick, but he halts on one knee where the
catamount bit him.  He cannot yet go on the long
trail.  He is not troubled, because Little Eyes has
spoken to him with a forked tongue and told him
that my sister is well and content with a message."\par

"{\itshape{Ah}}," murmured David, with meaning, "just
what we said, Nell!  Well, of all the stinkers!
But it's a jolly good thing that Dad's all right,
anyway."\par

Nell agreed vaguely.  She was thinking of the
money tied round her waist!  Whatever happened
she would save her father's earnings, his years
of work and labour, but certainly they were in
rather a tight corner.  Most people would have
called it a hopeless one.\par

She looked at Shines-in-the-Night, who was
two years older than herself and had all the
shrewd cunning and knowledge of the wild bred
in her by her Redskin forefathers.  Nor did the
Indian girl fail at this crisis.  All the time she
had been sitting by the fire while the white
wanderers slept, she had been thinking out a
plan, and it was formed in her mind, complete
and practical in every detail.\par

Now she explained it.\par

\label{the-hunters}%
\hypertarget{the-hunters}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER XI}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE HUNTERS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
The southern shore of the lake was flat and
open.  Down from far-distant hills the
land sloped to the water, and for miles there
were no trees.\par

From the hills, then, came two men travelling
light, with just a bundle, each made up of a
sleeping blanket and food enough for a few days.
They came at a great pace on their long
snowshoes, giving a kick forward with each foot and
then pressing down on the heel so that the great
torpedo-shaped shoe slid forward over the snow
almost as fast as a skate might on ice.  They were
well used to this going, and not being impeded
by sled, dogs, or goods there was nothing to keep
them back.\par

They came down to the shore about the hour
of dusk, lighted a very small fire of driftwood
from the river edge and boiled some tea in a
billy-can.  After they had eaten some deer-meat they
began to smoke.  Not till then did they speak
at all.  They knew what they were there for and
neither had the least doubt that they would easily
catch the two children, relieve them of the money,
and make off with it.\par

Stenson was the leader.  The other was a big,
heavy, stupid man--Barry Jukes.  They had
lived a hard life in the wilderness and had small
conscience about taking some hundreds of dollars
when the chance came their way.  All the
trappers believed that Lindsay had a large sum
of money hidden in his shack.  As long as he
could take care of it himself he was not
interfered with, but the accident of the catamount's
bite had put an idea into the quicker, more
cunning brain of Stenson--that was, to get the
girl out of the log house on that plea, and then
search it.  To break in was a small matter, because
he could easily pretend entire ignorance, and the
blame would be laid at the door of some wandering
Redskins, who certainly did steal at times.\par

He had made out the injury much worse than
it really was, of course, to work on Nell's fears.
He had come back much sooner than he said he
would in case she took it into her head to leave,
and she would surely have been caught at once
had it not been for the Lizard's information
that night.  Because of that the two had given
him the slip, but he was not much disturbed really.\par

He had proceeded to pick up their trail with
the skill of long practice, and followed it down
to the stream.  They had a sled.  That would
delay them, he knew.  Nor did he much believe
in the powers of the two young Lindsays to keep
up on the long trail without failing.\par

Therefore he coolly broke into the shack and
searched it thoroughly.  He tried the log floor,
and presently found the joins in the wood.  He
prised up the log, saw the empty hole and
understood what must have been hidden there.  The
conclusion he drew was, either that Nell had
taken the money to her father at the Abbitibbi
hills, where his shack was, or she had gone away
with it down river.  In either case he felt so
entirely certain of overtaking her that he stayed
at the log house to make a good meal, and fill
his pockets with potatoes, which were very
precious at the end of the winter when no green
food was available.\par

Then he started away along the ridges to his
own distant shack, his plan being to make sure
whether or no the flying pair had gone that way.
They could go some distance by stream, leaving
it lower down, but the way he took was the
shortest and hardest.  If they did not come
within a reasonable time he would cut across
to the lower end of the lake and look for their
trail there.  He did not doubt he should find it.\par

Now we know that he did not find the travellers
anywhere near the Abbitibbi, because they never
went that way.  But he was right enough in his
calculation about the lake, and it was perhaps
curious that Nell had not thought of that
possibility.  Had the brother and sister not been
delayed by the difficulties at the rapids and the
waterfall rocks they would have got ahead of
the pursuers and passed the outlet of the river
before they reached the lake.  As it was, the two
parties were opposite each other, but luckily the
trappers did not know!\par

Jukes grunted assents to the other man's
suggestions.  It was all plain-sailing to him.
They would take the money from the girl and
decamp.  Not return to their own shack, but
divide the loot equally between them and
disappear into the northern wilderness.\par

One name was as good as another to such men.
They were sick of trapping and wanted money
for a mining outfit.  The summer was coming and
all they had to do was to take the long trail up
into the North-West Territory and over to
Alaska.  No one would ever find them, they
thought.  Nor did they propose to harm the
girl if they could get the money without doing so,
because the police found men at the very ends of
the earth--when they really meant to.\par

This was the position as they sat and smoked,
saying a few words now and then.  Stenson had
explained his plan.  Jukes made no objection.
At present there was nothing to do but sleep.
It was too dark to do any good looking for a
trail.  They rolled themselves in their blankets
and slept soundly, for they had come many miles.\par

They woke, of course, in the misty greyness
before dawn, and presently saw the sun come
up shedding a faint pink flush ahead.  It was
warmer.  There was a soft air from the south
and a glisten of wet on the snow.  This did not
please the men, because it would make the trail
heavy, but it did not matter much, because the
same difficulty would handicap the two who
fled, especially as they were burdened by a sled.
Breakfast did not take long, and they were soon
ready to start.\par

Then Jan Stenson thought of crossing the
lake straight across, to find out if the trail ran
down it from end to end as the course to the
river would lead.  The two men launched
themselves on to the snowy surface, and went away
in a slanting direction towards the upper end.
They must cross right over to intercept the track,
if track there was.  It was not so very far,
especially with smooth going, the lake being hardly
more than two miles broad, though it might be
twenty-five long.\par

Three-quarters of the way across, Stenson
suddenly gave a hoarse chuckle of triumph.\par

"Oh ho!  So the quarry is on the trail!"\par

Jukes looked, too.  They both stood still,
gazing back along a very distinctly marked trail.
Without further remark they tracked it backward
for some little distance; it ran away over the
snow towards the beginning of the lake, as far
as they could see.\par

Snowshoes first, not a man's size.  Sled
runners, cutting rather deep because the snow was
softening.  Then snowshoes again, heavier in
print.\par

Stenson was triumphant.  He was always proud
of his shrewdness and here was a case in point.\par

"Was I right--haw?" he demanded, and
Jukes grunted assent.  "Little Eyes" was
certainly quite right in his calculation.\par

Having seen, then, that the trail ran from the
lake head and was making eastward, the thing
to be done was to follow it.  Nothing could be
plainer.  It had been made last night, or even
that morning early.  Why, the racing pair could
be but a little way ahead, it would be child's
play to catch them!  That was obvious.\par

Jan Stenson was very pleased with himself.
He boasted about his own cleverness to Jukes
as they took up the trail and followed on down
the lake.  For several miles they went and then
found the trail bore away towards the left, to the
northern shore.  Still following on, they
presently came to the rocky promontory and found
here evidence of movements, finally of a dead
fire and a camp.\par

Stenson announced that the pair had come
down from the head of the lake on the previous
evening and camped here.  They must have
gone on this morning, probably about the same
time that the pursuers broke camp on the southern
shore.\par

It was a hopeless position for the fugitives,
said Jan Stenson.\par

After a very little while taken up in prospecting
around this place, the hunters took up the trail
again and followed at a steady, rapid pace.\par

The northern shore began to grow more
wooded, and after a bit the end of the lake
came in view and a belt of trees, thick forest
again where the river left the lake and started on
its way to join the great wide stream of Moose
River a long way farther east.\par

It was just about here that Jukes declared he
saw something on the snow, fleeing towards the
mouth of the river.  Stenson had not quite such
good eyes, but he thought it likely enough there
was someone just ahead, so they increased their
efforts.  The trail was now fresh and very
distinct.  Two pair of snowshoes and the sled
runners.  Because of the mildness in the air the
snow was soft.  The sun shone over the dazzling
world everywhere, and the trees on the shore dripped.\par

When the two men came to the river head there
was a sound of trickling water here and there,
and the edges of the snow at the banks were
mushy and rotten.  Underneath was the force
of the stream within banks, not like the broad and
rather shallow lake.  Before long the ice would
heave up as the water swelled, then it would
burst and go down river in a jumbled mass.  The
course of the stream turned in a curve through
the forest and the trail was lost round this.  On
pressed the two men, and when they had passed
this curve they saw before them a straight vista
of perhaps half a mile, for in that clear
atmosphere distance is shortened.\par

At the far end of it were moving figures, a
little group going ahead at a good pace.
Considering the distance it was not easy to tell about
the persons in the group, but the low shape on
the snow was plainly a sled.\par

On raced the two men, Stenson boasting still
more about his clever calculation.  He was very
fond of boasting at all times.  Jukes listened
stolidly; he wanted the money, that was his
point of view.\par

In another ten minutes it became obvious that
there were two figures.  A taller behind and a
short one in front, bending forward to pull as
hard as possible.  The little sled ran smoothly
between, but it was hard going, because of the
soft trail.  Stenson made out that Nell Lindsay
was pushing behind, and the boy in harness.
He had quite forgotten about the dog.\par

Presently they saw the girl pause and look
round.  It seemed that she saw them and spoke
to the boy, who glanced round also.  Then they
went on as before.\par

Stenson shouted.  He and Jukes were not
close enough to see the figures quite distinctly,
and he was not inclined to go farther on this trail.
It would be better to get the money--there was
no question whatever about the girl giving up
the money, she would see the necessity of that--and
start away northwards at once, this trail was
leading them in the wrong direction.\par

After he had shouted several times the little
party in front drew up and stood still, waiting;
there was something in their attitudes that gave
Stenson his first "jolt," as he would have called a
shock of surprise.  In five minutes it was more
than a "jolt," it was astonishment mixed with
exasperation.\par

He and Jukes saw as soon as they came within
speaking distance, a Redskin girl, rather tall,
dressed in the usual winter dress of the Indians,
which was not very different from his own.
With her was a shortish boy, and between them
was a hand sled laden with pelts.  That was all.\par

The girl looked at him with the half shy,
inscrutable gaze of a Redskin girl.  Vaguely he
remembered to have seen her, or someone like
her.  He demanded her name and business.\par

"Shines-in-the-Night, daughter of Ogâ the
Pickerel," she answered in her own tongue.  "I
and my brother the Lizard carry pelts across to
New Brunswick House by the farther river."\par

It was a deadlock!  The trail, he questioned
her of the way she'd come, was from the upper
stream.  It was perfectly simple, because the
Chippewas were camped in the forest beyond
Lindsay's log house.  The trail was hers, then,
not Nell's!  Stenson could have killed these two
in his fury, but he dared not; the Chippewa
Chief would have killed him in return.\par

\label{the-flight-continues}%
\hypertarget{the-flight-continues}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER XII}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ THE FLIGHT CONTINUES}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
By this time it is understood what the plan
was that Shines-in-the-Night put before
Nell, when the Lizard brought news of the
pursuers' nearness.\par

It was a wonderfully complete plan, because
it included the making of a trail anew from the
head of the lake and down the centre to the
outlet of the river.  The shrewd mind of the
Redskin girl saw the necessity of this, because
Stenson would not have been satisfied with a
trail that began at the Wolf's Tooth Rocks.
He would, of course, want to know by what
track the fugitives reached it.  The way they had
really come the afternoon before, close to the
bank, was partly obliterated by the thaw and
partly defaced by the Lizard, who went back
on it for some little distance till he had destroyed
the connection with the camp on the rock.\par

At first Nell refused to agree, but Shines-in-the-Night
made it quite plain that she and the
Lizard would be in no danger.\par

"Great Chief Ogâ the Pickerel," she said
impressively.  "Once Little Eyes do him bad
turn never forgive.  Him know that.  All time Ogâ
finish Little Eyes.  Police no matter at all then."\par

It was true.  Nell knew that the Red men
never forgive an injury and never forget a friend.
If Stenson had killed the girl, no length of time,
no number of years or miles of distance would
save him in the end from the vengeance of Ogâ.\par

That made a great deal of difference.  She could
not have agreed to the plan if she had believed
it would endanger the girl's life.\par

So she and David accepted the generous offer
and one curious thing happened in connection
with this.\par

When it was settled, she said:\par

"You are very good to us, Shines-in-the-Night.
Your heart is very warm and kind.  We have
not thanks enough to give you."\par

"The tall white sister has given me a great
gift," answered the Indian; "it lies on my heart
and keeps it warm towards her.  So that no
deed is too much for me."\par

She put her hand within the leather shirt that
she wore under her blanket, and drew out,
almost reverently, the Christmas card that Nell
had sent her.  A hole had been made at one
corner, and a deer's tendon, such as Indian
women sew with, was passed through the hole,
thus hanging the card round her neck.  As she
brought it out, the faint, delicate scent from the
sachet pervaded the air and made Robin lift his
muzzle from his paws and wrinkle his nose with
little tentative sniffs.\par

To Shines-in-the-Night this card was the
most wonderful and beautiful thing she had ever
seen.  She believed it to be a miracle, too, a charm
of great power, and she knew that the possession
of it would give her a sort of status of honour
above the other girls and women of the Chippewas.\par

Nell knew the Indians, but even she was
surprised at the immense satisfaction this card had
given.  Just at a critical moment she bound this
girl to her service with a bond almost unbreakable.
It was a strange thing.\par

After that the action proceeded swiftly.\par

The time being little beyond midnight they
had some hours before the camp on the south
shore would wake.  Nell and David took a small
compact bundle each, simply the sleeping bag,
a billy-can, a little tea and pemmican, the object
being to travel as light as possible and cover as
much ground as they could in the shortest time.
The Indians gave Nell careful and distinct
directions about her journey.  She was not to
touch on the lake, but to go along the north side
of it through the woods and cut across the bend
of the river on the land.  In this way she was to
travel quite ten miles of the stream, but always
keeping in the woods.  After that it would be
safe for her to take to the course of the ice, they
all thought, but it might depend on circumstances.
About that time, too, she would reach
the log house--the bunk house run up for
travellers, where Andrew Lindsay had made a
cache.  Nell was depending rather on that for
enough food to keep on with.  Haste being her
one object, it was not possible to set a wire for
a chance rabbit, and concealment being necessary,
they could not fire a gun unless absolutely
forced to do so in self-defence.  A shot would
ring far in the silent snow-laden woods.\par

So that was the plan mapped out by the two
girls, and very soon after that they parted, Nell
and David going off east through the scattered
woods of the north shore, the Lizard and his
sister going back west, also on the shore, and
dragging the sled, until they arrived at a place
from which it seemed safe to take to the lake
again and come down the centre of it as described,
making the trail that was to mislead the pursuers.\par

All those long hours till the grey of morning
began to make the trees ghostlike, brother and
sister went on and on with Robin.  At first they
felt the pleasure of going ahead without the drag
of the sled, but about six o'clock they were very
tired, and Nell decreed a short rest, tea, and a
feed.  They made a small round fire with great
care, boiled some snow water for tea, ate their
dried meat and gave Robin a bit of the dried fish
they carried for him.  No bacon.  They must
wait for the cache.\par

Then, rested somewhat, they went on again.
They had reached the river outlet and were
cutting across that part round which its course
wound.  This was about the time when Stenson
was coming down the lake hot on the trail of the
Indians, who were certainly ten miles behind
Nell, if not more.\par

David was beginning to think it was all right
again.  He depended greatly on the Indian
girl's ruse, but Nell was very anxious.  She could
feel that money at her waist every time she
moved, and the responsibility was a burden.
She had taken upon herself to remove it from the
hiding-place, and she had a feeling that she owed
it to her father now to carry her plan through,
whatever it cost.\par

With this dread upon her she put off taking to
the river as long as they could get on by land.
But it was harder, slower going--the shoes caught
in snags and roots unless they moved with
greatest care, and a long swing was difficult.\par

About noon, and after another rest, Nell
declared she'd risk it.  They unstrapped their
snowshoes, broke a way through the undergrowth
and found the river again--wider, snow-covered
for the most part, smooth going.\par

They had not come all this way without seeing
a forest creature or two--a rabbit, a mink that
was chasing it just as stoats do in England.  The
rabbit escaped, thanks to Robin's interference,
but the mink did also.\par

The climb down the bank brought them up
against the land entrance of a musk-rat's nest,
a big heap of sticks and rubbish that looked so
careless, but was so carefully made.  They knew
that down away under the ice was a water entrance
also, and between the two entrances a nest most
beautifully safe and dry which the mink was
always trying to get at.\par

Nell and David knew of these things and had
often seen them, but to-day was no time to wait
and watch.  Once on the water--or rather on
the snow-covered ice--they strapped on their
shoes and went on again at a fine pace,
considering the thaw, which is most certainly a
drawback if you want to race.\par

They had counted on reaching the bunk house
that night, but they did not reach it, and they
were faced by the inevitable night in the snow
with no food but the tea and dwindling pemmican.
It was not quite so cold, but that was small gain
when the wetness was taken into account.
Dripping trees and wet snow!\par

They would not make a sound of complaint,
either of them, though they were dizzy with
weariness and stiff in every muscle.  They
scraped a tiny camp free of snow, made a fire
with bits of stick and dead leaves, boiled their
water almost mechanically, and after eating all
they dared of the food remaining, crawled into
their bags and were asleep in a few seconds,
the two, with the dog between them.  So
soundly they slept that no stir among the wild
creatures on the banks roused them, nor did the
faint ceaseless trickle of tiny streams running
into the river.\par

The hardest part was waking in the morning
to start on again in the raw chill of the thaw at
dawn.  No sun, of course.  Grey mist, shadows,
and slush!\par

"Never mind," said Nell, answering their
thoughts, because neither had spoken, "we {\itshape{must}}
reach the bunk house and the cache to-day.
Then we'll have a feast and a rest, and a fire in the
stove; they always keep the fire laid--we shall
have to do it for the next that comes along when
we go."\par

David seized on Robin in a sort of paroxysm of
satisfaction.  They rolled about on the ground
together, and presently got up very cheerful.\par

"Da, you're a brick," said Nell, measuring
out tea.  "I {\itshape{say}}, we are short.  That's the last.
And only this to eat!  Pity we can't eat Rob's
fish, but we can't; it's like wood."\par

They made fun of the poor meal, the slush, the
stiffness, and the long miles ahead.\par

"Come on," said the girl, and they had started
before the sun was up.\par

All the morning they kept on, and then Nell
began to recognise certain landmarks her father
had spoken of at different times.  The first of
these was the narrowing of the river into a sort
of gorge, the sides of which were steep, rocky,
and wooded.  David said it was a good thing
they had no sled; that was the "bright side"
certainly.  But they had themselves, and it meant
a landing, a severe climb and a struggle through
a regular maze of undergrowth.  They had to
use the little axe, which they had held to as a
necessity and carried strapped to David's back.
Bad as it was, landing was the only way, because
the river went down the gorge in rapids, and the
strong stream had begun to force tiny rivulets
over the snow.\par

About the middle of the afternoon, when
David was very silent and Nell had taken to
describing the bunk house, which she declared
was close by, Robin left them.  He had become
restless a little while back, following up some
trail with persistence, and now he disappeared
altogether.\par

"Never mind," said Nell.  It was rather a
favourite expression of hers, always meaning
really "never say die!"  "He can't possibly
lose us, even if we lose him."\par

"I say, Nell, look at the big rocks and the
jolly hiding holes up there."  David waved a hand
towards a sort of fortress above them.  "If the
bunk house turns out to be a frost we'd better
come back here and hide.  It would be jolly safe."\par

"Start housekeeping in a cave!  All right, but
what shall we eat?  Robin?  Or the foxes that
live up there?  We haven't even got a snare."\par

As they talked they came into a sort of rough
track leading from the heights down to the river.
The wood was less dense, and Nell suddenly
checked.\par

"Da!  Oh, Da!  See--we are all right!  I'd
give three cheers only we'd better not!  {\itshape{There's}}
the bunk house, up on the bank above the
stream in that bit of open--see!"\par

They both stood still, gazing their fill as it were.
This meant rest, warmth, a safe night, food, and
in the minds of both a feeling that the worst was
over.\par

David made extravagant signs of joy--silent
signs.  Nell's face, which had been looking very
pinched and years older than the fifteen she
counted, seemed to plump out suddenly into
roundness.  The eyes of the two met with a
sort of mutual congratulation, then their attention
was distracted by a growl, and both looked to
see the meaning of the sound.\par

Not far from them and on higher ground among
the rocks stood a black bear.  His little red eyes
were fixed on them with a sort of malevolent
irritation.  He was very thin, a mere loose hide
over bones, and the two knew that he had waked
from his winter sleep in the caves and come out,
desperately hungry, to find nothing to eat, and
rather a comfortless world.  He was annoyed.\par

\label{a-race-for-life}%
\hypertarget{a-race-for-life}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER XIII}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ A RACE FOR LIFE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
Now any hunter of the great North-West
Territory will tell you that the only
animal, perhaps, that no man can ever count on
is a bear.\par

The big white polar bear and the grizzly of
the Rocky Mountains are always savage, most
horribly dangerous.  But the black and brown
bears will seldom interfere with man; never,
unless wounded, or with cubs, when there is
plenty of food about.  The safest time for bears
is perhaps in the autumn, when their cubs are
growing up and they have quantities of berries,
honey, and such food to eat.\par

Now Nell knew all this very well.  She and
David had often seen bears.  She had no fear of
them, at the same time uncertainty remained.
And it was a bad time of year!\par

This particular bear had been asleep in the
cave above.  He had waked up with the ice still
covering the fish, and small animals mostly slain
by the foxes.  He was probably turning over
dead wood logs to hunt for beetles and slugs,
but that is a poor meal to go on, after about five
months' fast, and he was in a very irritable mood.\par

Slowly he raised himself on his haunches and
sat up.  Nell would have liked to stand still and
watch him, but felt it would not do.  She moved
away, quicker and quicker, but trying to do it
in an unaggressive way.\par

"Good thing we haven't got the shoes on,"
she said to David, making talk, as it were, with
one eye on the big black bear.\par

"Why?" asked the boy, shifting his into an
easier position where they were slung across his
shoulder.\par

"Because I think we shall have to run for it."\par

"Oh no!"\par

"Oh yes," said Nell; "he's in a bad temper.
What a nuisance!"\par

"Can't we shoot him?" suggested David, as
they moved on with increasing speed.\par

"Shoot!  My dear boy, with automatics!  He
wouldn't mind much unless we shot his eye out,
and then he'd be deadly!  Wish I'd brought the
little rifle, but I thought it was safer with the
pelts on the sled, it's so heavy to carry.  You
want something pretty strong to stop a bear.
Dad says their skins are so thick.  Bother it,
he's coming.  Run, Da, and don't tumble over
the roots, whatever you do.  Remember the
bunk house is good and close.  We'll get there."\par

"Where's that donkey Robin?" muttered
David, but Nell did not answer; she was intent on
this very tiresome adventure.  It was fairly plain
that the dog had found the bear trail and followed
it to the cave.  No doubt he was hunting up
there among the rocks, and in a way she was not
anxious for him to come till this was over,
because a dog has small chance with a bear if it
comes to fighting at close quarters.  People have
an idea that a bear kills by hugging, and will
always squeeze his enemy to death, whereas the
astonishing weapon it uses is the lightning
swiftness of its {\itshape{strike}}.  A bear strikes with his
fore-paw--which is armed with terrible rending
claw--as quickly as a snake darts, and he can
break the neck of a moose or a buffalo with one
smack.  Nell knew all about this and she did not
want Robin to come to close quarters, therefore
she would not whistle, but ran on, David keeping
up with her, faster and faster.\par

Now these two were very swift of foot, but
they had been greatly tried for a good many
days and nights, they were hungry and a bit
spent, for it was afternoon; lastly, they were
cumbered with their packs and shoes.  They
were handicapped, but fortunately for them so
also was the bear, for he, too, was not at his best.\par

A certain great writer says that an elephant
does not seem to be made for speed, but if he
wanted to catch an express train he would
probably catch it.  A bear, too, does not look as
though he could run, but he can, very fast indeed,
and it took all the running those two could manage
to keep ahead.  Nell's anxiety was David chiefly.
Could he hold out?\par

Fortunately it was all downhill, and they were
very surefooted with long practice of running
over rough ground.  The bear came shambling
on behind, grunting with anger.\par

"Don't look round, Da," ordered Nell sharply,
"you'll trip up!  Look where you're going!
The bunk house is quite close now."\par

David did as he was told, knowing she was
right about the tripping.  A stumble would be
death.  Just where you put your feet mattered
enormously at that moment.  The bunk house
was close--which was comforting.\par

What he did not realise, and Nell wanted to
keep from him, was that the bear was gaining.
Every time she sent a glancing look over her
shoulder he was a little nearer.  She measured
the distance to the bunk house anxiously.  It
was touch and go; she would not admit to herself
that it could not be done.  What was the distance?
Fifty yards, forty?  Less?\par

And at that moment David went headlong
over a bunch of snags half hidden by snow.  He
was looking round to see what Nell was looking
at.  Just as anybody might.  He wanted to see
what she thought and felt, because he realised
great danger.\par

Nell sprang to him.  He was on his feet in less
time than it takes to tell about it, but the bear
had gained.  The girl glanced once at him and
her soul sickened.  His red mouth was open and
his little pig-like eyes were full of mad rage,
even the horrid smell of his rusty coat came to
her on the clean air.\par

"Run, Da," she said, keeping her voice level,
"run!  We shall do it," but she was loosening
her pistol in its pocket and getting ready for the
stand that must come directly.\par

On the instant she felt a stab of dread, from
behind came a sudden bell-like bay--the note of
Robin on a scent in full cry.\par

He had been hunting round about the dens in
the rocks and hit on the bear's fresh tracks.  It
was a beautiful sound, that deep note of the big
hound, and to Nell it meant rescue, she believed.
One glance she took at the wood behind.  Up on
the slope she saw the black shape of Robin, nose
to ground, racing down on the track of the
bear--and his mistress.\par

He was galloping, tail high, heavy ears drooped
forward.  Again he gave out his deep bay.\par

The bear checked his speed, wavered, and then
came on again, but without the terrible intentness
of his previous attack.  Being a wild creature he
was aware of danger.  Something was coming!\par

Nell increased her speed, if that were possible,
and heartened her brother with a joyous cry:\par

"On, on, Da--let's get the door open, and
then call Robin in.  He mustn't fight the bear."\par

The difficulty of opening the door with the
bear at her elbow, so to speak, had been the
haunting terror.  One couldn't do it.  There
would be no time.\par

She and David raced down to the door, just
as the bear turned to deal with this swift black
shape that leaped round him in the snow, keeping
just out of reach of his death-dealing forearm.\par

"Oh, the key, the key--it's locked!" cried
Nell rather desperately.  "Oh, Da!  Where did
Dad say----"  She tried to think.  David was
absorbed in watching Robin's assault on the
bear, which was sitting up again, making swift
smacks at the illusive black attacker.\par

"Well {\itshape{done}}--go it, Robin!"\par

"Oh, don't, he'll be killed," Nell expostulated
in an agonised voice, while her eyes travelled
eagerly round the door frame, and she shook
the solid latch.\par

"He won't be killed.  He's too quick," said
the boy triumphantly.  "Key?  Oh, there it is on
a nail under the eave.  I say, Nell, look at Rob!
He's a right smart one!"\par

It was true.  Rob was tormenting the bear
with great cleverness, but Nell was far more
intent on getting into safety, and probably few
people have experienced a warmer sense of relief
than she did when she opened the door of the
bunk house.\par

Not much of a place, but the relief!\par

She glanced round with a satisfied look, and
saw four bunks--like the berths of a ship--on
one side, a rusty stove laid ready for lighting, as
the custom is the outgoing traveller must lay the
fire for the one who arrives wet and chilled, a
pile of chopped wood, and a rough cupboard.
Besides that a heavily made bench and a table.
But the joy of it!  Nell could have danced round
that very rough table in spite of her weary legs,
but there was Robin to capture and a furious
bear outside.\par

After that look round she rushed out again and
whistled to the dog.  Then she called.  Robin
was very loath to leave the great black brute, out
of whose reach he kept for the time being.\par

He came at Nell's call reluctantly.  The bear
came, too, but with more caution as he was not
sure how much he liked the log house.\par

Then the heavy door was slammed and locked,
and the three sat down and breathed hard amid
bursts of laughter.  Robin laughed, too, as dogs
do, his lips lifted over his teeth.  His eyes said:\par

"What a spree, wasn't it?" and he laid a heavy
paw on Nell's knee.\par

She stroked his black silky head with a hand
that shook just a little.\par

"If it hadn't been for Rob, Da, you'd have
been--well, it was touch and go when you fell
over that root."\par

"Rotten thing!" said David cheerfully.  "But
you know it's not so easy to run for your life
carrying a mass of things, and the ground all
tangled up under the snow.  Well, here we are!
I say, how jolly!  Nell, what will the old brute do?"\par

"Go away, presently," answered his sister as
she kneeled to light the stove.  "Now, then, first
off with the moccasins and have our dry stockings,
then we'll have a real decent supper.  Da, put
the fur bags in the bunks and bring those bunk
blankets near the stove; we'll have it all hot and dry."\par

The first thing that happened after that was a
discovery, and not a pleasant one either.  There
was a little food in the cupboard--tea and cocoa in
tins, flour, and tobacco, and a small bit of bacon
frozen hard.  It was obviously the cache of
some trapper who had passed here on his way
down to Moose River, and as he would depend
on it when he returned probably, they were in
honour bound either to leave it alone, or put
back what they took.  Nell remembered with a
sudden shock of dismay that Andrew Lindsay's
cache was outside.  He had described the
place at the corner of the shack.  Not trusting
some of the trappers--with good reason--he had
made a cache of his own.  That would have
been quite all right if the bear had not been
outside.\par

They had to laugh and be thankful for the small
supply in the cupboard.  In the morning, or
late that night perhaps, they would dig for
"Dad's cache" and put back what they had
used--also have another supper and a good
breakfast.\par

They gave Robin his last piece of fish, and at
the same moment remembered that it was not
possible to make tea without water, or get water
without snow, and all the snow was outside!\par

Long they waited and listened, their only
comfort being the warmth of the fire.  They were
very patient, as people learn to be who live hardly
and have to make, get, and do everything for
themselves by the work of their own wits and
fingers.  It is not an easy life, but it teaches you
a lot which is never wasted.\par

Presently, from the little window, glazed with
parchment, they caught a sight of the bear sitting
up holding in his arms a piece of logwood,
which he seemed to be licking--for insects
probably.\par

"Oh, {\itshape{poor}} old thing!" said Nell joyfully,
and she rushed to the door with her billy-can.\par

Very soon after the smell of hot tea and baking
bread made the log house feel like home.\par

\label{rifle-shots}%
\hypertarget{rifle-shots}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER XIV}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ RIFLE SHOTS!}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
In spite of insufficient supper, a horrible trial
when you are extremely hungry, it is doubtful
if ever two people slept sounder than these
travellers.  The dry bunks and blankets, with
the warm fur bags, made beds for a king.  The
hot tea and hot heavy bread, made with flour
and water, were warming, and satisfying, too,
with the bit of bacon.  They were too tired to
worry about the bear, which came back and
prowled round the shack when the warm smell
of food came out of the pipe that served as a
chimney.  Bears love bacon, which is why the
great traps laid for them--drop traps--are nearly
always baited with lumps of bacon or pork.\par

How soon he went away they did not know, for
they were asleep, and they slept for ten hours almost
without moving, and woke up to daylight filtering
in through the parchment pane, and a cold stove.\par

They got up with reluctance, in spite of
hunger.  David would have preferred to stay
where he was all day, and argued about it in a
disgraceful manner, Nell said.  She opened the
door and there, close by, was the wide river, the
white road leading to safety and civilisation.\par

Then the sun came up, hot and bright, and the
snow sparkled in millions of dripping jewels.\par

"Come out and dig for breakfast," said Nell,
"or will you do the stove while I dig?"\par

"Look out for the bear," answered David
sleepily, "probably he's waiting round the corner."\par

But he wasn't.  All was clear, and presently
the two travellers were busy as bees digging for
the cache by Nell's recollection of its position.
Fortunately the ground was much softer, because
of the thaw and the sun, while the cache itself
was only just below the surface and covered
chiefly by stones and rubbish.  This was the
usual way.  Men did not have time or inclination
to make deep pits, they just concealed the package
from man and beast till they should come by
again and need the goods.\par

The parcel was carefully tied up in dressed
hide, so that the leather was soft.  Tea, sugar,
baking powder, and flour, beans and bacon.  The
latter was rather rusty, certainly, but what is that
when you are hungry!  Probably it had been
well frozen and was hardly thawed yet.  Nell
took it all indoors and smoothed the place over.
They had been obliged to dig with the axe.  They
had nothing else, but it was not good for the blade!\par

Her plan was to eat well and carry on the rest,
after putting back the little store in the cupboard.
They would surely want it for the journey still
ahead.  She would divide the weight into two
parcels wrapped in the skin.\par

Nell's mind was fairly at ease.  If she had
realised it, the reason of that was chiefly the
warmth, the long, restful sleep, and the sunshine.
Things look so different in different
circumstances and nervous dread often comes with
weariness and cold.  She believed the danger
was over and the journey on from now would be
easy.  It was not so very far, she reasoned, and
the best of all was that every mile now might
bring them to possible habitations, to farms
even.  They were coming down into the haunts
of men at last.  That meant safety.\par

Of course, all this work--digging up and
smoothing down--then the stove lighting and
wood collecting, then the comfortable breakfast
on a table, with the water boiling hard by on the
warm stove, all took time.  Time, too, was taken
up in dividing the food into proper shares for
carrying away and leaving.  It was at this stage
that David suddenly made the proposition which
undermined the plan for the day already settled.\par

He was leaning against the doorway, looking
out at the sun on the river, playing with Robin,
just as though they were at home up in the hills,
left so far behind.\par

"I say, Nell, why do you want to go to-day?"\par

Nell stopped in her work of putting back the
cache in the cupboard.\par

"But, Da, we ought to!"\par

"Why {\itshape{ought}}?  We are perfectly safe now.  It
will only make a few hours' difference."\par

"We can't be sure of that.  How about
Stenson?  We don't know where he is.  He won't
give up."\par

"He will.  Sure as fate he'll catch the Redskins
and the sled.  He'll believe he has followed
a false trail all through and he'll give up.  Now
just think, Nell, why on earth should he come
on this way.  He was bound to find them, and
there you are!  Why {\itshape{should}} he keep on coming
this way with no trail to follow?"\par

It was true.  Quite true and reasonable.  It
was most unlikely that Stenson should go on
searching for a different trail over miles and
miles of country when he had found the end of
the trail made--as he thought--by the young
Lindsays.  Where would he look?  It was fair
and reasonable to conclude that he would be
baffled by the young Indians and go back to
Abbitibbi.  The plan propounded and carried
out by Shines-in-the-Night was a very sound one.
She would go her way, across to the other river
which ran down to the Moose about parallel with
this one, only some fifty miles of woods between
the two streams.  Stenson might follow her, to
see what she would do, but he had no means of
picking up the trail of the Lindsays.\par

All these thoughts, for and against, rose and
sank in the girl's mind.  There was really no
reason why they should not take a very necessary
rest for this one day and start at dawn on the
following morning, but instinctively she felt it
was dangerous.  David said, "But why?  But
why, Nell?" twice.  She had no very definite
reason to answer with.  Only a feeling.\par

Of course she wanted to stop; who would not
after such a strain?  The shack was luxury.  They
really did need the rest, and in a way there was a
good deal to do getting themselves clean, tidy,
and ship-shape for the journey to come.\par

In the end David won.  Nell laughed, gave in,
and began to make baking-powder bread with the
new materials, stirring it in the billy-can with a
stick.  You can use billy-cans for so many things
when you have to!\par

"On one condition," she said, "that we go
to bed as soon as the sun goes down and get off
really early, about four o'clock, so we can start
before daybreak."\par

David promised joyfully.  Whatever he felt in
the morning would be another pair of shoes!  He
went off down to the river and came back to say the
thaw was jolly well getting a move on things!  The
ice was shifting up the banks.  In some places there
was water as well as melted snow on its surface.\par

"Look out for bridge ice, Nell, to-morrow,"
he said, as he sat down to the table.  "I do
believe it's going out in a few days.  Rather
early this year, isn't it?"\par

Nell said it was warmer down here than up in
the hills.  There was a much greater force of water
underneath, too, here than up at the source of the
stream, naturally.  And, after all, it was April!\par

"Once it begins, it always goes so quickly,"
she said.  "If it will last for us, just two whole
days more--we ought to get somewhere safe,
Da, in that time."\par

"We shall," said David with conviction, and
his sister put away from her the queer nervous
feeling that would not let her mind rest entirely.\par

A great part of that afternoon they lay still in
their bunks, talking at intervals, while Robin
dozed by the fire.  As it happened, this was a
very good thing for all three!  The odd jobs
were done.  All was ready, the wood to fill the
stove with in the morning, and the packets.\par

About sundown they had a meal, and after
that the grey dusk began to creep over everything.
Soft, still shadow.\par

"Now bed," said Nell; "we've got no
candles and we must be up about four."\par

The words were hardly finished when a
gun-shot rang out sharp on the silence.\par

Nell started as though she had been hit,
because her mind was still strained.\par

"It may be anybody," said David.  Robin
growled.  Nell opened the door and listened.\par

From the wood at the back a voice said, loud
and harsh:\par

"You would, would you?  You'd be ugly, eh?"\par

It was Stenson's voice, and undoubtedly he
had met with the bear!\par

"Come on, Da.  Smart.  We must get off.
Thank God for the evening, and thank God for
the bear!"\par

Nell laughed suddenly, a low, jerky laugh.\par

"Who'd have thought it?" said David.  That
was all.  He was feeling the least bit guilty,
because Nell had really wanted to go on.
However, there it was--and thank God for the bear!\par

It took a very few minutes to clear out.  The
bundles were done up in double-quick time, and
the rest was ready.\par

"Now then," said Nell, "and, Da, hold
Robin; whatever happens he mustn't go."\par

David, strapping on snowshoes, agreed quickly,
then he said:\par

"It's bad luck his finding the place warm and
the stove still alight.  It's a complete give-away."\par

"He won't find anything, unless he blows the
door out.  I've locked it and I've got the key,"
answered Nell grimly.  "There's another shot!
He's still busy.  What a mercy it is getting
really dark!"\par

Cautiously keeping the shack between
themselves and the wood they sped down to the
brink, out through the rotten ice and slush, and
away on to the river.  Then off, with all the
speed they could muster, away and away,
eastward again down that smooth snow-covered road,
and the last thing they heard was another shot.\par

"I hope the old bear kills him," said David
vindictively.\par

"Oh, he won't.  Stenson's got his gun.  But,
Da, what a true mercy; if he hadn't come by the
bear track he'd have actually walked into the
shack and caught us going to bed."\par

"I'd have shot him if he had, as soon as wink,"
said David; "he wants peppering."\par

Nell laughed again.  She had thought of that
last resort herself!\par

Next time she spoke she said how splendid the
rest had been.  This was because she knew
David was feeling a little guilty about it.  Also
it was very, very true.  Both of them moved in
quite a new way.  The effort of that last day was
gone; they were as fresh as when they started,
and so was Robin.\par

Darker it grew and darker, till they went on
with no light but the snow and a few stars, not
the great shining stars of the farthest north, but
stars that helped a little.\par

Nell was more anxious about the road underfoot
than the skies overhead.  There was always
the danger of a flaw in the ice below, and she
knew there might be holes--places where water
had come up over the ice, places where streams
from the bank running in made weakness.  Nell
had often heard stories of inexperienced folk
going up north too late in the season, who had
died a quick death because "the bottom fell out
of the trail," that was the expression used when
the ice road gave way under you and you went
down and under the awful drifting sections of ice.
And yet what were they to do?  The river was
better going than the rough shores which might
be any kind of travelling, up hill, down dale,
woods, streams cutting into the big one, every
sort of delay and check.\par

It was best, she decided, to keep on, going
fast, as long as they heard no cracking, serious
cracking.  If that began, they must land and
get past any weak place by the bank.\par

"After all, we are not very heavy," she said,
and comforted herself with that.\par

"{\itshape{He}} is," suggested David.  "I wonder what
he is doing now!  I wonder if he'll break the
lock of that shack, or if he'll hit our trail and
follow up directly.  Of course, he may have killed
the bear.  If he has he might stop to strip the pelt
at once and come down to the shack afterwards."\par

So did David talk cheerfully, because he was
refreshed by that good rest.  Nell was glad to
hear it.  She also was refreshed and unafraid of
the night, but the long, long road ahead seemed
to rise before her eyes as they drove on and on
into the darkness.\par

\label{in-which-the-ice-goes-out-and-the-trail-leads-home}%
\hypertarget{in-which-the-ice-goes-out-and-the-trail-leads-home}{}%
{}

\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{CHAPTER XV}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ IN WHICH THE ICE GOES OUT, AND THE TRAIL LEADS HOME}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
Now the reason that Mr. Jan Stenson
turned up at the bunk house was not far
to seek.  It has been said he was proud of his
cunning, and he was cunning, though
Shines-in-the-Night baffled him by her clever trick.\par

He and Jukes saw the two Redskins cut across
presently to the northward, going steadily on
their way to the upper river.  He would not
interfere with them for the reason already stated.
No good could come of quarrelling with
Redskins.  They never forgive.  If it was after
scores of years or over thousands of miles they
would pay the score in full--ultimately.  So he
let the girl go and he and Jukes had a row.\par

Jukes taunted him with folly, and words grew
very hot indeed.  Finally Jukes went away by
himself, saying he was going back to the shack
in the hills.  He went, sullen and savage.\par

Stenson was left alone, bitterly furious with
the young Lindsays, because he was sure the
first part of the trail was theirs, and he was
equally sure he must have been hoaxed
somehow.  But how!  And the presence of the
young Indians was entirely surprising, too.  He
could not make it all out.\par

Doggedly he went back on that trail till he
came to the lake.  Then, as it was near midday,
he made a short rest and ate some of his dried
meat.  After that he deliberately went back all
the way to the rock of the Wolf's Tooth and
began searching about there with care that he
had not bestowed in the morning, when he had
rather jumped to conclusions on first sighting
the trail.  Taken it all for granted, that is to say.
Now he meant to unravel the mystery, and he
came near enough to make a fair guess.  Searching
about with the skill of an old hand, he decided
that the camp fire was not an Indian fire--too
large--also there was far too much trampling up
and down the bank for Redskins, who move like
forest creatures.  Then he followed tracks in
the snow back and forth, till suddenly he came
on the print of {\itshape{dog's}} feet.  Then he gave a short
laugh that was almost a shout.  What a fool
he'd been!  It must be the dog's trail that proved
the presence of the Lindsays.  Why hadn't he
remembered the dog!\par

From that moment he went hunting on a new
plan, as it were.  The Lindsays must have
started from this promontory.  He was sure of
that.  Therefore the point most evident was to
find the start.  From the fire he worked round,
taking a semicircle on the land side and back
again.  By dusk he had not discovered what he
wanted, but he believed he should, so he camped
there that night and began again as soon as he
could see well.\par

Of course he found the trail made by Nell,
David, and the dog, right across by the north
shore to beyond the first big bend of the river,
where they took to the ice again.  The thaw
had made it more difficult, but such an old trailer
as Stenson could not be deceived easily.\par

He found the fire where they stopped, and
finally in the dusk, as described, he followed the
trail up the steep to the neighbourhood of the
bear's den.  If he had not done that he would,
of course, have surprised the two in the shack.
As it was, the bear became, after all, a friend to
the pair he had attacked in the first place.\par

When Stenson appeared the big black brute
was in a worse mood than before.  He was more
hungry and he had smelt the scent of cooking
that came from the stove-pipe of the log house.
The trapper fired at him, because he was
obviously dangerous and it had not occurred to
him that the trail he had followed ended so soon.
If it had, he would have been more cautious
probably.\par

The bear, slightly wounded, made a dash for
the man, who ran behind a tree and fired again.
But the light was deceiving, and the affair ended
in the bear retreating into the rocky fortress--to
fight another day.  Stenson, seeing drops of
blood on the snow, decided to come again, kill
the bear, and get the pelt; meanwhile he would
go on down to the shack, which was, he knew,
not far distant on this curve of the river bank.
Therefore he presently came down to the log
hut and found it was locked.  That did not
surprise him much, but he expected to find the
key hung as usual in some place under the
sheltering eaves of the log roof.\par

By this time it was too dark to see a trail, or
find a small thing like a key.  So Mr. Jan Stenson
lost his temper, as he usually did, and blew in
the lock of the door, as he had done to another
log house not long before!\par

Instantly he was greeted by a smell of warmth
and food.  The little place had not had time to
cool.  The blankets were warm.  The stove
hastily filled up with fresh wood, already dry,
was quite hot.\par

Stenson rushed out into the snow, and lighting
a torch made of a bit of dry bark, looked about
over the ground and found at once the track of
the three sets of footprints to the water's
edge--or rather to the edge of the ice.\par

He went slowly back to the shack, considering
what he should do, and the final conclusion
he came to was--a mistake.\par

He did not imagine that the Lindsays were but
ten minutes ahead of him.  Had he been sure of
that he would certainly have followed on at once.
The smartness of Nell's retreat was beyond him.
He did not believe she would have gone off down
river in the dark.  It was unreasonable to suppose
that two young things would have started at
nightfall.  Therefore he decided to follow his
inclination, now he knew that they must be about
six or eight hours ahead of him at the outside,
on a direct course to Moose River and probably
unsuspicious of his approach.  He would make
a good meal, take a few hours' comfortable
sleep and go on again at dawn.  He was travelling
faster than they were.  They seemed entirely at
his mercy, for the river was wide and open,
while there would be many, many miles of Moose
River yet to cover.\par

Thus, while Nell, David, and Robin drove
their weary feet on and on through the night
hours, Mr. Stenson slept soundly and woke up
before daybreak to finish the food Andrew Lindsay
had cached.  It was certainly not justice, but
that has nothing to do with adventures, very
often, anyway.\par

Later on he started, picked up the trail at
once and went off down river at a pace that
over-gained on the hunted pair from the first.  Given
time, and a clear field, he was simply bound to
overtake them, and he knew it.\par

Nell was obliged to call a rest early in the
morning.  They had to light a fire and fry some
bacon, which Robin shared.  Anxiety was telling
on her as well as fatigue, and her legs trembled
with weariness.  David was really wonderful, but
he was rather silent, and Robin's feet were a little
sore.  He was not used to so many miles of
travel; ice particles got between his toes, and
though he bit them out when the party rested,
after so many days of irritation and wetness it
had caused pain.  He was a little lame, too.\par

"Oh, when will it end?" was poor Nell's
feeling as they packed up and went on again.
This time not for many hours.  They had to
call another halt which stretched to middle day.
The sun was shining gloriously and the whole
world was one sheet of sparkles.  Had they been
less tired, it would have seemed a glorious day
to be alive on.  The country was flatter and
more open as a rule, but in places the woods
came again, and the twittering of birds sounded
in the dripping branches.\par

About three o'clock in the afternoon, David
called Nell's attention to a line of willows across
the low pastures towards the south.  A very long
way ahead, but still visible.  Was it not a tributary
stream, a little river, running into their own
road?  They both stood still to look and consider.
It was--or might be--important, because sometimes
a mile or two up these tributary streams a
homestead would be found, a farm or small
settlement.  There was just a chance that it
might be so in this case, the open country to the
south appearing somehow to suggest cultivation,
or they thought so.\par

Standing so, Nell looked round, and her heart
gave a sickening leap as she realised the full
horror of what she saw.\par

Jan Stenson, coming straight down the river
after them.  Too far off for them to see his face,
but the short, strong figure they knew.\par

David saw also; his remark was characteristic.\par

"Well, we're three, he's one.  We'll have to
kill him."\par

"Da!  He'll shoot Robin."\par

"Can't we shoot {\itshape{him}}?" retorted the boy fiercely.\par

"Come on," was Nell's answer.\par

The weakness left them in sheer excitement,
and they raced ahead.  Nell, thinking hard of
ways and means, felt her mind haunted by the
corner where the smaller river joined in.  Should
they make a stand by the willows?  Perhaps
pistol shots might be heard by someone and
bring help.  It was a very poor chance, though.\par

She looked round.  Stenson gained very little.
Their spurt had been useful.  Now they were
nearing the corner.  Which should they do?\par

In the excitement of the race the condition of
the ice had been almost forgotten, but at this
point there was a loud crack, and then another.
Nell had a feeling as though the ice beneath their
snow road had swayed.  Glancing at the bank
nearest the willows she saw the whole ice line
move and shift at the edges.\par

Robin was running with his nose to the ground
as usual, but he checked now with a whine of
anxiety, and sheered off from the side where the
new stream opened up.\par

"Follow Robin," ordered Nell sharply.  "Not
too close together, Da--the higher we are the
better."\par

There was another crack, and behind the
flying snowshoes a thin line of water oozed up
in one place, then all was quiet again.\par

Robin sped on, choosing his path, and the
two followed.  They were so intent that Nell
forgot her feeling about the other stream, or
rather she abandoned the idea in the excitement
of getting over that dangerous place.  The only
thing to do seemed to be to go straight ahead.\par

David was talking excitedly, and she had not
even listened, because of her anxiety.  But when
they were going on safely again she said,
"What?"\par

"Why, Stenson, Nell!  If he doesn't land and
go by the banks, he'll smash through sure
as----"\par

"He'll land," said Nell; "it won't delay him
much to do that."\par

"Not so sure," grunted David, and he kept on
looking back over his shoulder.\par

Nell was just going to beg him not to do it,
because it checked their speed a little, when he
gave a crow of triumph and stopped short.\par

Nell perforce stopped, while in her ears rang
a sharp far-away splitting sound.\par

Mr. Jan Stenson had reached the weak spot--and
the ice had gone under with him.\par

From side to side of the river behind the two
came reports, as the ice gave in all directions.\par

"Oh," gasped Nell, "what ought we--to do!"\par

"I believe you want to go back and help him
out!  I {\itshape{say}}, Nell, you really {\itshape{are}}!"\par

"But, Da, it's rather awful!"\par

"Oh no.  Only awfully wet, and jolly cold.
Look, he's got his arms over the edge of the ice
and is breaking along towards the shore.  He'll
get out--in the end.  Come on."\par

The last thing they saw, in far distance, was a
figure crawling very slowly out on to the north
bank.  It did not seem to be moving in their
direction.  As a matter of fact, Jan Stenson made
the best of his way back to the shack, having lost
his gun, though he saved his life--by a very
narrow margin!  It would have been madness to
follow the flying pair in his drenched clothes,
with no means of making a fire, as his
ammunition and matches were soaked.  Better to get
back to warmth and dryness--and start again
to-morrow.\par

That was what he said to himself, but he did
not do it.  One of his snowshoes had gone in
that struggle for life--and anyway, the river was
not safe any more.\par

The young Lindsays went on for awhile
without such haste, and presently camped on the
south bank.  As they were collecting firewood
and making a cheerful blaze they heard sounds of
voices--several voices and the barking of dogs.
Then appeared, attracted nearer by the sight of
this little fire, three men and a dog sled drawn
by six huskies.  It seemed that Nell's instinct
was right, and up along that little river there was
a homestead and small farm.  These men had
been up there with supplies, and were coming
back with pelts, on their way home to the nearest
settlement on Moose River.\par

They were entirely amazed at the Lindsay
pair and Robin, and asked many questions, but
Nell, as always, was cautious.  They had all
heard of Andrew Lindsay the trapper.  Nell told
them he had injured his leg and she was doing
important business for him.  She must get to
the settlement, and after that she and David
would go back home.\par

"You can't go on the ice," said one man,
"it's not safe now.  It's going out all along."\par

"I know," agreed the girl, and David laughed.\par

No one saw what he was laughing at!\par

So those three went down to the settlement in
good and safe company, and Nell deposited all
that money in the local post office, for that had
been her intention all through.\par

A very little she took to buy necessary kit,
and then she, David, and Robin went back to
the hills with the trader who was going as usual
to collect pelts from the trappers in the far-away
woods.\par

Going back was a safe enough journey, and
did not seem as long as you might think, because
of the relief of mind.  Nor was Nell worried
about her father, because she knew that the
Redskin friends, Shines-in-the-Night and the
Lizard, had long since gone back to the home
camp and carried the news of Nell's flight to
put the hard-earned money in safety.\par

And it was so.  When they got back to the log
house in the forest, Lindsay had come and knew
the whole story.  Nor was he kept long in
suspense, for by the time he had mended his door
and got all ship-shape the adventurous pair and
Robin arrived with the traders.\par

Stenson and Jukes removed to another
neighbourhood--they found it healthier.\par

And so presently did Andrew Lindsay and his
children, when David had to be turned into an
engineer.  But the story of those two on the trail
was not soon forgotten among the folk in the North.\par


\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\footnotesize{THE END.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\footnotesize{Printed in Great Britain at
 \\
}}{\itshape{{\footnotesize{The Mayflower Press, Plymouth}}}}{\footnotesize{.  William Brendon \& Son, Ltd.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
*      *      *      *      *
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{6}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\LARGE\strut{Books for Boys and Girls}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{2}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\normalsize{ From Six to Sixteen}}}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY POPULAR WRITERS}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\normalsize{ ILLUSTRATED BY FIRST-CLASS ARTISTS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ LONDON
 \\
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
 \\
AND
 \\
THE SHELDON PRESS}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\footnotesize{S.P.C.K. HOUSE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.2
 \\
NEW YORK AND TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO.
 \\
And at all Booksellers.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{4}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN}}}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Oggie and the Sea Fairies.  By ALICE SOPHIA JACKSON.
 \\
The Adventures of Mr. Bunny Kit.  By A. EVA RICHARDSON.
 \\
The Fairy Spectacles.  By M. P. THOMASSET.
 \\
Sunshiny Stories.  By CONSTANCE HEWARD.
 \\
How Audrey became a Guide.  By F. O. H. NASH.
 \\
Audrey in Camp.  By F. O. H. NASH.
 \\
Joy, the Happiest Child in England.  By F. O. BEAMES.
 \\
Princess Lily-of-the Valley.  By THEODORA MILLS.
 \\
Queen Mab.  By Mrs. ARTHUR WOODGATE.
 \\
Kevin and the Cats.  By K. F. PURDON.
 \\
The Adventures of Nancy in Sweden.  By PAULINE TOLLER.
 \\
Two Little People and Some Others.  By JESSIE MITCHELL.
 \\
Mick, an Ugly Dog.  By EMILY UNDERDOWN (NORLEY CHESTER).
 \\
The Moon Lady.  By A. EVA RICHARDSON.
 \\
Two from Town.  By THEODORA MILLS.
 \\
Geoffey.  By AMY GRIFFS VERNON.
 \\
Tom Dick and Nancy.
 \\
The Children of the Cliff.  By A. V. BUTTON.
 \\
The Dauntless Three.  By BEATRICE RADFORD.
 \\
Little King Richard.  By MAUD CAREW.
 \\
Stories from Fancyland.  By LEWIS EVANS.
 \\
Norah with an "H."  By LUCIE E. JACKSON.
 \\
Some Brownies and a Boggart.  By F. O. H. NASH.
 \\
While Mother Was Away.  By ETHEL TALBOT.
 \\
The Island Camp.  By ETHEL TALBOT.
 \\
A Year of Adventure.  By ROBERT DE MOUNTJOIE RUDOLF.
 \\
 (The scene is laid in Ceylon during the Napoleonic Wars.)
 \\
Who are the Cromlyns?  By E. L. HAVERFIELD.
 \\
The Fortunes of Harold Borlase.  A Story of the Days of Drake.  By JOHN GRAEME.
 \\
The Plague Ship.  By G. A. HENTY.
 \\
Holiday Chums.  By ETHEL TALBOT.
 \\
The Wiltons in Wartime.  By ROBERT DE MOUNTJOIE RUDOLF.
 \\
Barncliffe of Errington.  Adventures during the Peninsular War.  By F. B. FORESTER.
 \\
Sylvia finds a Fairy.  By ROBERT DE MOUNTJOIE RUDOLF.
 \\
A Little Pair of Pilgrims.  By MARGARET J. M. BOLLAND.
 \\
The Gilroy Family.  By CONSTANCE M. SPENDER.
 \\
Lion Hearts.  A Sequel to the "Gilroy Family."  By CONSTANCE M. SPENDER.
 \\
The Cottage in the Wood.  By MARY BALDWIN.
 \\
From Greenland's Icy Mountains.  A Tale of the Polar Seas.  By GORDON STABLES.
 \\
Barbara's Behaviour.  A Story for Girls.  By M. BRAMSTON.
 \\
The Ranche in the Valley.  By G. A. HENTY.
 \\
The Story of Pat.  By Mrs. H. O. CRADOCK.
 \\
Penelope and the Haunted House.  By M. F. HUTCHINSON.
 \\
Pat of Whitehouse.  A Story of Girl Guides.  By H. B. DAVIDSON.
 \\
The Cotton Wool Girl.  By E. M. CHANNON.
 \\
Kitty's Summer Holidays.  By BEATRICE RADFORD.
 \\
Harter's Ranch.  By F. B. FORESTER.
 \\
Over the Sea Wall, By E. EVERETT-GREEN.
 \\
The House of Mystery.  By MARY BALDWIN.
 \\
Jack, the Englishman.  By H. LOUISA BEDFORD.
 \\
Four Winds.  By WINIFRED PARES.
 \\
Heroes of the Chitral Siege.  By ALICE F. JACKSON.
 \\
The Fortunes of Junia.  By M. BRAMSTON.
 \\
The Gold Hunters.  An Exciting Story of the Californian Goldfields.  By W. J. MARX.
 \\
Kitty.  By A. F. MOUNT (Mrs. BRICKNELL PERRY).
 \\
The Stranding of the White Rose.  By C. DUDLEY LAMPEN.
 \\
Finding her Family.  By ELSIE J. OXENHAM.
 \\
Three in a Bungalow.  A Story for Girls.  By M. F. HUTCHINSON.
 \\
The Treasure League.  By ROBERT DE MOUNTJOIE RUDOLF.
 \\
Barbara Pelham.  The Story of an Unselfish Life.  By M. E. SHIPLEY.
 \\
Adventures of Marshall Vavasour, Midshipman.  By S. W. SADLER.
 \\
The Treasure of Spanish Villa.  By F. BAYFORD HARRISON.
 \\
Care of Uncle Charlie.  By FLORENCE WILLMOT.
 \\
The Lone Shanty on the Hill.  An Adventure Story for Children.  By NANCY M. HAYES.
 \\
The Secret of Marsh Haven.  A Story of School Adventure.  By ALFRED JUDD.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY AMY GREY}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Jack's Baby.  A Story of a Kidnapped Baby.
 \\
Dick's Debt.  Tells how a Boy did his Bit in War-time.
 \\
Vita.  The Story of a Charming Little Girl.
 \\
The Copper Urn.  A Story of Treasure hidden in a Copper Urn.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{SPLENDID STORIES FOR BOYS}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Geoffrey Harrington's Adventures.  Wonderful Adventures on an Island in the Pacific.
 \\
The Cruise of the "Non-Such" Buccaneer.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{STIRRING TALES}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY W. H. G. KINGSTON
 \\
(The famous writer for boys.)}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ The Log House by the Lake.  A Tale of Canada.
 \\
The Two Shipmates.
 \\
Ned Garth; or, Made Prisoners in Africa.
 \\
Sunshine Bill.
 \\
Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs.  A Tale of the Sea.
 \\
The Cruise of "The Dainty."
 \\
The Frontier Fort A Tale of Canada.
 \\
The Mate of the "Lily."
 \\
The Gilpins.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{SCHOOL STORIES}}}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Skimpy and the Saint.  By SIBYL B. OWSLEY.
 \\
Eardley House.  A Girls' School Story.  By SIBYL B. OWSLEY.
 \\
The Chronicles of Durnford.  A Public School Story.  By JOHN CARTWRIGHT.
 \\
The School they Handed On.  By SIBYL B. OWSLEY.
 \\
Westcote Towers.  A Boys' School Story.  By MARJORIE C. BARNARD.
 \\
Donald Marston.  A Sequel to "Westcote Towers."  By M. C. BARNARD.
 \\
Rosamond's Girls.  By M. BRAMSTON.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{CAPITAL SEA STORIES}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY W. CHAS. METCALFE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Grit and Pluck; or, The Young Commander.
 \\
Frank and Fearless; or, Adventures among Cannibals.
 \\
Dick Trawle, Second Mate.
 \\
Young Salts.
 \\
Ice-Gripped; or, The "Tomboy" of Boston.
 \\
Blown out to Sea.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY JOHN A. HIGGINSON}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ When Duty Called.  A Yarn of Shipwreck and Adventure on the Coast of Portugal.
 \\
A Broken Voyage.
 \\
A Strange Craft.
 \\
The White Pirate.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{BOOKS FOR YOUNGER GIRLS}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY L. E. TIDDEMAN}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Aunt Pen.
 \\
Molly's Decision.
 \\
Nancy and her Cousins.
 \\
Next-Door Gwennie.
 \\
Ray and Fairy.
 \\
The Story of Dorothy.
 \\
When Bab was Young.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY HERBERT HAYENS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ A Kidnapped Prince.
 \\
For Rupert and the King.
 \\
An Amazing Conspiracy.
 \\
(The hero risks his life to rescue his cousin from a Central American prison.)}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY BESSIE MARCHANT
 \\
(Well known as a writer of books for boys and girls.)}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Athabasca Bill.  A Tale of the Far West.
 \\
A Brave Little Cousin.
 \\
Darling of Sandy Point.
 \\
The Deputy Boss;
 \\
The House at Brambling Minster.  An Amusing Tale of a Haunted House.
 \\
The Mysterious City.  A Story of the Congo.
 \\
Redwood Ranch.
 \\
Rolf the Rebel.  Adventures in Cuba.
 \\
The Western Scout.
 \\
Yew Tree Farm.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY ALICE WILSON FOX}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Too Near the Throne.  An Historical Romance.
 \\
Love the Leader; or, Defenders of the Faith.
 \\
Diana's Decision.  A Story for Girls.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{STORIES OF ADVENTURE}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY FREDERIC HARRISON}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Rupert Dudleigh.  A Story of Old Brighton.
 \\
Within a Year.  A Story of the Siege of Acre.
 \\
De Montfort's Squire.  A Story of the Battle of Lewes.
 \\
Sea Scouts Afloat.  A Story of the Great War.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{EDITH E. COWPER'S
 \\
Books for Boys and Girls}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Andrew Garnett's Will.
 \\
Bessie.
 \\
The Black Dog's Rider.  A High-spirited Girl turns Highway Robber.
 \\
The Captain of the Waterguard.  Adventures on the South Coast
 \\
 in the Early Days of the Coastguard Service.
 \\
Ida's Floating Camp.
 \\
The Disappearance of David Pendarve.
 \\
The House with Dragon Gates.  A Story of Old Chiswick in 1745.
 \\
The Invaders of Fairford.  An Historical Story of Cromwellian Times.
 \\
The Island of Rushes.  The Strange Story of a Holiday Mystery.
 \\
The King's Double.  A Vivid Episode in the Civil War.
 \\
Leo Lousada, Gentleman Adventurer.  Strange Ad ventures in the Channel Islands.
 \\
The Misadventures of I.M.P.
 \\
The Moonrakers.  A Story of Smugglers in the New Forest in 1747.
 \\
The Mystery of Castle Veor.
 \\
Red White, and Blue.
 \\
Two Girls and a Secret.
 \\
Two on the Trial.  A Story of Trappers' Life in the Far North of Canada.
 \\
Wild Rose to the Rescue.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY MRS. EWING
 \\
(Whose stories have never been surpassed.)}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Daddy Darwin's Dovecot.
 \\
Dandelion Clocks, and Other Tales.
 \\
Jackanapes.
 \\
Lob Lie-by-the-Fire; or, The Luck of Lingborough.
 \\
Mary's Meadow, and Letters from a Little Garden.
 \\
The Peace Egg, and a Christmas Mumming Play.
 \\
Snapdragons.  A Tale of Christmas Eve and Old Father Christmas.
 \\
The Story of a Short Life.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ Another Edition.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Jackanapes, Daddy Darwin's Dovecot, and The Story of a
 \\
 Short Life.  In one volume, with Coloured Illustrations by H. M. BROCK, R.I.
 \\
Mary's Meadow, and Other Tales of Fields and Flowers.
 \\
 With Coloured Illustrations by H. V. WHEELHOUSE.
 \\
Old-fashioned Fairy Tales.  With 8 Coloured Illustrations by W. GRAHAM ROBERTSON.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ Another Edition.  Crown 8vo. size.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Jackanapes and Other Stories.  Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE and RANDOLPH CALDECOTT.
 \\
Lob Lie-by-the-Fire and Other Tales.  Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY JOY MERIVALE}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Only a Boy; or, How Vere got back his Diamond.
 \\
Jumped by Convicts.  A Tale of Plantation Life in British Guiana.
 \\
The Fallen Flyer; or, Camping in Canada.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{HISTORICAL TALES}}}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ See also books by GERTRUDE HOLLIS, J. M. NEALE,
 \\
FREDERIC HARRISON, E. E. COWPER.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ A Nest of Malignants.  A Story of the Civil War.  By DOROTHEA MOORE.
 \\
The Cross of Pearls.  The Story of a French Family in the Fourteenth
 \\
 Century.  By Mrs. CATHERINE BEARNE.
 \\
A Saint George of King Charles's Days.  By DOROTHEA TOWNSHEND.
 \\
Dame Joan of Pevensey.  A Sussex Tale.  By E. E. CRAKE.
 \\
The Forest Shrine.  By E. P. GOUGH.
 \\
In Perilous Days.  A Tale of the French Revolution.  By Mrs. CATHERINE BEARNE.
 \\
In the Days of Origen.  By the Rev. A. SHIRLEY.
 \\
Out of Weakness.  By ANNIE L. GEE.
 \\
Master and Man.  A Story of the Peasants' Revolt, 1381.  By J. O. HARDWICK.
 \\
Sir Ranulf.  A Story of St. Hugh of Lincoln.  By E. K. SETH-SMITH.
 \\
The Purple Rose.  A Story of Italy in the Fifteenth Century.  By ANNE FORRESTER.
 \\
A Bearer of Despatches.  A Story of the Siege of Lynn, 1643.  By EMIL LOCH.
 \\
The Firebrand of the Indies.  A Romance of Francis Xavier.  By E. K. SETH-SMITH.
 \\
Richard of Lympne.  By VIOLET T. KIRKE.
 \\
Under the Blue Flag.  A Story of Monmouth's Rebellion.  By MARY E. PALGRAVE.
 \\
Glory of War.  A Story of the Days of Marlborough.  By H. A. HINKSON.
 \\
Whither?  The Story of a Flight.  An Historical Tale.  By DOROTHEA TOWNSEND.
 \\
The Hidden Chalice.  By IERNE L. PLUNKET.
 \\
Brave Dame Mary; or, The Siege of Corfe Castle.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY GERTRUDE HOLLIS}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Between Two Crusades.  A Tale of A.D. 1187.
 \\
The Blessed Bands.  A Tale of Savonarola.
 \\
Hugh the Messenger.  A Tale of the Siege of Calais
 \\
In a Royal Nursery.  The Exciting Adventures of Charles I.'s Children.
 \\
In Crazy Times.  A Tale of King Charles the Martyr.
 \\
In the Days of St. Anselm.
 \\
The King who was never Crowned.
 \\
Leo Of Mediolanum.  A Tale of the Fourth Century.
 \\
The Lost Exile.  A Tale of Siberia.
 \\
My Lord of Reading.  A Tale of the Reformation.
 \\
Philip Okeover's Pagehood.  A Story of the Peasants' Rising.
 \\
Spurs and Bride.  A Tale of the Magna Charta.
 \\
Uncle Michael's Story.  A Tale of the River Amazon.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\Large\strut{BY JOHN COMFORT}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Matt Desmond's Bit.
 \\
On His Own.  The Adventures of an English Boy in Canada.
 \\
Don's Doings.  A Story of Life in Western Canada.
 \\
Toby's Luck.
 \\
Nobby, a Son of Empire.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{HISTORICAL TALES}}}}{\Large\strut{
 \\
BY J. M. NEALE, D.D.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Deeds of Faith.
 \\
Duchenier; or, The Revolt of La Vendée.
 \\
The Egyptian Wanderers.  A Story of the Great Tenth Persecution.
 \\
Evenings at Sackville College.  Legends for Children.
 \\
The Exiles of the Cebenna.  A Story of the Decian Persecution.
 \\
The Farm of Aptonga.  A Story of the Times of St. Cyprian.
 \\
The Followers of the Lord.
 \\
Herbert Tresham.  A Tale of the Great Rebellion.
 \\
The Lazar House of Leros.  A Tale or the Eastern Church in the
 \\
 Seventeenth Century.
 \\
The Lily of Tiflis.  A Sketch of Georgian Church History.
 \\
The Lions of Wady-Araba.  A Story dealing with the Decian Persecution.
 \\
The Quay of the Dioscuri.  A Tale of the Rise of Arianism.
 \\
The Sea Tigers.  A Tale of the Nestorian Church.
 \\
Shepperton Manor.  A Tale of the Times of James I.
 \\
The Sword of King Affonso.  Tells of the Ill-fated Expedition of
 \\
 Sebastian of Portugal to Africa.
 \\
Tales Illustrative of the Apostles' Creed.
 \\
Tales of Christian Endurance.
 \\
Tales of Christian Heroism.
 \\
Victories of the Saints.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{OTHER BOOKS
 \\
FOR YOUNG FOLK}}}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
The Children's Old Testament.  By E. B. TRIST (Mrs. WM. O. PIERCY).
With thirty-six coloured and many black and white
Illustrations.\par

The Land of the Ever-Young.  By ROSAMOND LANGBRIDGE.  With
four coloured and four black and white Illustrations by F. D. BEDFORD.
An exquisite phantasy, which Mr. F. D. Bedford, who
illustrated "Peter and Wendy," has sympathetically interpreted.\par

The Pilgrim's Progress.  By JOHN BUNYAN.  An edition for
children, arranged by JEAN MARIAN MATTHEW.  With four coloured
and forty-two black and white Illustrations by H. J. FORD.\par

A Life of Our Lord.  Told in the Words of the Four Gospels.  With
twelve coloured Illustrations by JAMES CLARK, R.I.  (The letterpress
is entirely in the words of the Gospels, those incidents having been
chosen which are readily intelligible to children.)\par

Where the Dolls Lived.  By Mrs. H. C. CRADOCK.  With four
coloured and numerous black and white Illustrations by HONOR C.
APPLETON.  (A story in prose and picture, calculated to win the
heart of any little girl.)\par

Peggy's Twins.  By Mrs. H. C. CRADOCK.  With four coloured and
six black and white Illustrations by HONOR C. APPLETON.  (Another
charming book from these collaborators, who know so well how to
charm the minds of little children.)\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{BIBLE PICTURE BOOKS}}}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
A Life of our Saviour.  For Little Children.  Containing: Our
Saviour's Childhood, Ministry, Teaching and Triumph.
With twelve coloured Pictures, and many other Illustrations.\par

The Dawn of the World.  Containing: The Story of Creation,
The Patriarchs, Joseph.\par

The Chosen People Containing: Moses, Judges in Israel, David.\par

Forerunners of Christ.  Containing: Prophets in Israel and
Judah, Elijah, Kings of Israel and Judah.\par

By E. B. TRIST (Mrs. WM. O. PIERCY).  Each with twelve coloured and
twelve black and white Illustrations.\par

SS. Peter and Paul.  Depicted by H. J. FORD.  With Notes on the
pictures by W. K. LOWTHER CLARKE.  With coloured Frontispiece
and thirteen other Illustrations.\par

Sketches of English Church History.  By ELIZABETH GRIERSON.
Illustrated.  (Biographical Sketches drawn from all periods of English
History.)\par

The Land where Jesus Lived.  By GERTRUDE HOLLIS.  With
coloured Plates and numerous Photographic Reproductions.  (An
attractive book for the young.)\par

The Parables.  With coloured Frontispiece and twelve black and
white Illustrations.  By H. J. FORD.  (The parables are given in
full with short explanations where necessary.)\par

A Nation's Hero.  The Story of Israel's Exile and Return.
By S. H. MACY.  With coloured Frontispiece and other Illustrations.\par

A Glorious Host.  Sketches of Saints, Heroes, and Martyrs.
By E. B. TRIST.  Illustrated.\par

How and Where they Lived in Bible Times.  By E. B. TRIST.
With eight coloured and numerous half-tone Illustrations.\par

Our Wonderful Cathedrals.  Series I. and II.  By GERTRUDE
HOLLIS.  With eight coloured and numerous other Illustrations.\par

Our Wonderful Church.  By GERTRUDE HOLLIS.  With eight
Illustrations.\par

Our Wonderful Faith.  Papers for Children on the Apostles' Creed.
By EDWARD W. OSBORNE, D.D.  With eight Illustrations.\par

Our Wonderful Earth.  By F. A. PITTS.  With numerous
Illustrations.\par

Gentle Jesus.  A Book for His Little Children.  By GERTRUDE
HOLLIS.  With twenty-four Illustrations.\par

Heralds of the Cross.  Short Sketches of Missionary Heroes.  By
E. B. TRIST.  With sixteen Illustrations\par

Some Battlefields of the Cross.  Asia and some Islands of the
Southern Seas.  By E. B. TRIST.  With sixteen Illustrations.\par

More Battlefields of the Cross.  In the British Empire and
Elsewhere.  By E. B. TRIST (Mrs. WM. O. PIERCY).  With
coloured Frontispiece and eight black and white Illustrations.\par

Our Wonderful Bible.  By GERTRUDE HOLLIS.  With several
Illustrations.  (The history of the Bible to the present day.)\par

Our Wonderful Prayer Book.  By GERTRUDE HOLLIS.  With
Illustrations.\par

Boys and Girls I have Known.  By E. W. OSBORNE, D.D.  With
coloured Frontispiece and sixteen other Illustrations.\par

Some Wonderful Things in the Catechism.  By EDWARD
W. OSBORNE, D.D.  With eight Illustrations.\par

The Children's Bread.  Teachings on the Church Year from Advent
to Trinity, for Sunday Scholars.  By M. L. McCLURE.  With
numerous Illustrations.\par

The Children's Heritage.  Talks to the Church's Children on the
Church's Faith.  By the Rev. G. R. OAKLEY, M.A., B.D.\par

The Cross and the Sword.  Stories of the Royal Soldier-Saints
of England.  By the Rev. G. R. OAKLEY, M.A., B.D.
With eight Illustrations by W. PAGET.\par

Crowned with Glory.  Stories of the Younger Saints in the
Prayer-Book Calendar.  By the Rev. G. R. OAKLEY, M.A., B.D.  With
several Illustrations.\par

Livingstone, The Empire Builder, or Set under the Cross.
By J. A. STAUNTON BATTY.  With Illustrations.\par

A Book of Nursery Rhymes.  Being Mother Goose's Melodies,
arranged in order of Attractiveness and Interest by CHARLES WELSH.\par

By E. B. TRIST (Mrs. WM. C. PIEROT).  With coloured and other
Illustrations.\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ The Story of Creation.
 \\
Joseph.
 \\
Moses.
 \\
Judges in Israel.
 \\
The Patriarchs.
 \\
Elijah.
 \\
David.
 \\
Kings of Israel and Judah.
 \\
Prophets in Israel and Judah.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
The Land of Faraway, and Other Stories for Little Children.
With coloured Frontispiece and numerous other Illustrations.\par

Teddy and the Fairy, and Other Stories for Little Children.
With coloured Frontispiece and many other Illustrations.\par

Old World Wonder Stories.  Edited with an Introduction by
M. V. O'SHEA.  With Illustrations.\par

The Tales of Mother Goose.  As First Collected by CHARLES
PERRAULT in 1696.  A Translation by CHARLES WELSH.  With
Illustrations.\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\itshape{{\Large\strut{OLD TALES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN}}}}
\endgraf}
\par

{\centering
{\Large\strut{Adapted by C. M. DUNCAN-JONES.  With coloured and other Illustrations.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ A London Sparrow and Mignonette.
 \\
Little Drake and other Stories.
 \\
Stories from Ballads.
 \\
Stories from France.
 \\
Stories from Wales.
 \\
English Folk-Lore Stories.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
Four Gospel Picture Books in large type.
Each has Three Coloured Pictures, and
many other Illustrations.\par


\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\raggedright
{\normalsize{ Our Saviour's Childhood.
 \\
Our Saviour's Ministry.
 \\
Our Saviour's Teaching,
 \\
Our Saviour's Triumph.}}
\endgraf}
\par


\vs{3}
{\noindent}
{\centering
{\normalsize{ SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
 \\
AND
 \\
THE SHELDON PRESS
 \\
LONDON: NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.2}}
\endgraf}
\par


% -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-

%
\backmatter
%


\label{pg-end-line}%
\hypertarget{pg-end-line}{}%
{}
\vs{6}
{\noindent}
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO ON THE TRAIL ***\par

\clearpage{\pagestyle{empty}\cleardoublepage}

{}

\begin{english}
\begin{pgfooter_env}
\penalty-300%
\label{a-word-from-project-gutenberg}%
\hypertarget{a-word-from-project-gutenberg}{}%
\label{pg-footer}%
\hypertarget{pg-footer}{}%
\vspace*{50pt}\thispagestyle{empty}
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\Huge\bfseries%
A Word from Project Gutenberg}

\unskip\vskip 40pt\nobreak

{\noindent}
We will update this book if we find any errors.\par

This book can be found under: {https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40663}\par

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright royalties.
Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this
license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works to protect the Project Gutenberg™ concept and
trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be
used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific
permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook,
complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for
nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
performances and research.  They may be modified and printed and given
away – you may do practically {\itshape{anything}} in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.\par{}

\penalty-300%
\label{the-full-project-gutenberg-license}%
\hypertarget{the-full-project-gutenberg-license}{}%
\label{project-gutenberg-license}%
\hypertarget{project-gutenberg-license}{}%
\vskip 3.5ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\Large\bfseries%
The Full Project Gutenberg License}

\unskip\vskip 2.3ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
{\itshape{Please read this before you distribute or use this work.}}\par

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
{https://www.gutenberg.org/license}.\par

\penalty-300%
\label{section-1-general-terms-of-use-redistributing-project-gutenberg-electronic-works}%
\hypertarget{section-1-general-terms-of-use-redistributing-project-gutenberg-electronic-works}{}%
\vskip 3.25ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\large\bfseries%
Section 1. General Terms of Use \& Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works}

\unskip\vskip 1.5ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
{\bfseries{1.A.}} By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by
the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.\par

{\bfseries{1.B.}} “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.\par

{\bfseries{1.C.}} The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free
access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works
in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project
Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with
the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format
with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it
without charge with others.\par

\par

{\bfseries{1.D.}} The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms
of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg™ work.  The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country outside the United States.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.}} Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:\par

{\bfseries{1.E.1.}} The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:\par

{\advance\leftskip\parindentamount{}\advance\rightskip\parindentamount{}
\vs{1}
{\noindent}
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
eBook or online at {https://www.gutenberg.org} .  If you are not
located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the
country where you are located before using this ebook.\par}

\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{\bfseries{1.E.2.}} If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.3.}} If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and
distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and
any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of
this work.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.4.}} Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project
Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.5.}} Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute
this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.6.}} You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other
than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ web site
({https://www.gutenberg.org}), you must, at no additional cost, fee or
expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a
means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original
“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include
the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.7.}} Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.\par

{\bfseries{1.E.8.}} You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided
that\par

\begin{itemize}
\item[-] You pay a royalty fee of 20\% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you
already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to
the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to
donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60
days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally
required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments
should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4,
“Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation.”\par

\item[-] You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.\par

\item[-] You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.\par

\item[-] You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.\par
\end{itemize}

{\bfseries{1.E.9.}} If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™
trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3. below.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.}}\par

{\bfseries{1.F.1.}} Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend
considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be
stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that
damage or cannot be read by your equipment.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.2.}} LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES – Except for the
“Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the
Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.3.}} LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND – If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.4.}} Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set
forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS,’ WITH
NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.5.}} Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.\par

{\bfseries{1.F.6.}} INDEMNITY – You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation,
the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.\par

\penalty-300%
\label{section-2-information-about-the-mission-of-project-gutenberg}%
\hypertarget{section-2-information-about-the-mission-of-project-gutenberg}{}%
\vskip 3.25ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\large\bfseries%
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™}

\unskip\vskip 1.5ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.\par

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™'s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain
freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To
learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and
how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the
Foundation web page at {https://www.pglaf.org} .\par

\penalty-300%
\label{section-3-information-about-the-project-gutenberg-literary-archive-foundation}%
\hypertarget{section-3-information-about-the-project-gutenberg-literary-archive-foundation}{}%
\vskip 3.25ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\large\bfseries%
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation}

\unskip\vskip 1.5ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.\par

The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email {business@pglaf.org}. Email
contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the
Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact\par

For additional contact information:\par

{\advance\leftskip\parindentamount{}\advance\rightskip\parindentamount{}
\vs{1}
\begin{verse}
{\vl {\noindent}
Dr. Gregory B. Newby\par}
{\vl Chief Executive and Director\par}
{\vl {gbnewby@pglaf.org}\par}
\end{verse}
}

\vs{1}
\penalty-300%
\label{section-4-information-about-donations-to-the-project-gutenberg-literary-archive-foundation}%
\hypertarget{section-4-information-about-donations-to-the-project-gutenberg-literary-archive-foundation}{}%
\vskip 3.25ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\large\bfseries%
{\noindent}
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation}

\unskip\vskip 1.5ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing
the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely
distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest array of
equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations (\$1 to
\$5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status
with the IRS.\par

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
state visit {https://www.gutenberg.org/donate}\par

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.\par

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.\par

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: {https://www.gutenberg.org/donate}\par

\penalty-300%
\label{section-5-general-information-about-project-gutenberg-electronic-works}%
\hypertarget{section-5-general-information-about-project-gutenberg-electronic-works}{}%
\vskip 3.25ex
{\noindent\interlinepenalty \@M\normalfont\large\bfseries%
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.}

\unskip\vskip 1.5ex\nobreak

{\noindent}
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.\par

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.\par

Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
facility:\par

{\advance\leftskip\parindentamount{}\advance\rightskip\parindentamount{}
\vs{1}
{\noindent}
{https://www.gutenberg.org}\par}

\vs{1}
{\noindent}
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including
how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe
to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\par
\end{pgfooter_env}
\end{english}
\hbox{}
\end{document}

% Local Variables:
% mode: tex
% encoding: utf-8
% End:
