ld Mountain would be the place to be watched.
He could even conjecture the night vigil on the mountain, and the
breaking of the fire in the dawn. He could see the desperate and
futile struggle with the fire as it reached down to the hills. Back of
that screen of fire there was the setting of a tragedy darker even
than the one of the fire itself.

"He had my letter?" the Bishop asked, when he had heard all that Ruth
had to tell.

"Yes. We had just read it."

"He went armed?" said the Bishop quietly.

"Myron Stocking brought Jeffrey's gun to him," the girl answered
simply, with a full knowledge of all that the question and answer
implied. The men had gone armed, prepared to kill.

"They will all be driven in upon French Village," said the Bishop
slowly. "The wind will not hold any one direction in the high hills.
Little Tupper Lake may be the only refuge for all in the end. The road
from here there, is it open, do you know?"

"No one has come down from that far," said Ruth. "We have watched the
people on the road all day. But probably they would not leave the
lake. And if they did they would go north by the river. But the road
certainly won't be open long. The fire is spreading north as it comes
down."

"I must hurry, then," said the Bishop, gripping his reins.

"Oh, but you cannot, you must not!" exclaimed Ruth. "You will be
trapped. You can never go through. We are the last to leave, except a
few men with fast horses who know the country every step. You cannot
go through on the road, and if you leave it you will be lost."

"Well, I can always come back," said the Bishop lightly, as he set his
horse up the hill.

"But you cannot. Won't you listen, please, Bishop," Ruth pleaded after
him. "The fire may cross behind you, and you'll be trapped on the
road!"

But the Bishop was already riding swiftly up the hill. Whether he
heard or not, he did not answer or look back.

Ruth sat in her saddle looking up the road after him. She did not know
whether or not he realised his danger. Probably he did, for he was a
quick man to weigh things. Even the knowledge of his danger would not
drive him back. She knew that.

She knew the business upon which he went. No doubt it was one in which
he was ready to risk his life. He had said that they would all be
driven in upon Little Tupper. In that he meant hunters and hunted
alike. For there were the hunters and the hunted. The men of the hills
would be up there behind the wa