rge
snake lay coiled in the grass hard by, wondering if safety rested in
lying still or beating a retreat; half-a-hundred of the eyes and lives
of the forest were witness to the beginning of the mating of these two,
witnesses, as they may have been to the darker deeds of blood which
these grim shades had so lately contained.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE FOREST.

"And all this time we have been forgetting our picnic," reminded Verna
merrily.

They undid the saddle bags and spread out the contents. Nothing had
been forgotten, for had not she herself packed them?

"Why, this might be an up-the-river jaunt," said Denham, as the
appetising daintiness of each article of food revealed itself. And then
these two healthy people, realising perfectly that there is a time for
the material as well as for the romantic, fell-to with a will.

Not much was said as they took the homeward way; for one thing, it is
difficult to converse when you are riding single file, and to keep a
bright look out for projecting boughs or tangling trailers calculated to
sweep you from your saddle in summary and unpleasant fashion at the same
time. Yet there was a glow of happiness in the hearts of both, that
could do without words. Again, as on their way forth, Denham was
contemplating his guide with feelings of intense admiration and love;
but now, superadded, the exultation of security. And yet--we have said
that he was a singularly modest man, for one of his personal gifts and
material advantages--he still found himself wondering what a woman like
this could see in him.

"You're not conversational, Alaric," said Verna, over her shoulder.
"What's the subject of the meditation?"

"I ought to answer `you--and you only,' but it wouldn't be true. The
fact is, I have been obliged to divide contemplation of you with an
enduring and superhuman effort to save myself from dangling--an executed
corpse--from any one of these confounded trailers."

She laughed--merrily, happily.

"Well, I can't spare you yet. Look! the stuff's thinning here. You can
come alongside again."

Hardly had he done so than both horses cocked their ears, snuffing
uneasily.

"Why, what is it?" exclaimed Denham, rising in his stirrups to peer
forward. "By Jove! It's a skeleton. Let's investigate."

He dismounted, and helped Verna from the saddle. They were careful to
hitch up the horses, and then went forward.

As Denham had said, it was a skeleton, or rather wh