nes, cast an
approving glance about him, which included the sleeper, and silently
departed.

It was night when she awoke. She was surrounded by a profound darkness,
except where the shaft-like opening made a nebulous mist in the corner
of her wooden cavern. Providentially she struggled back to consciousness
slowly, so that the solitude and silence came upon her gradually, with
a growing realization of the events of the past twenty-four hours, but
without a shock. She was alone here, but safe still, and every hour
added to her chances of ultimate escape. She remembered to have seen a
candle among the articles on the shelf, and she began to grope her way
towards the matches. Suddenly she stopped. What was that panting?

Was it her own breathing, quickened with a sudden nameless terror? or
was there something outside? Her heart seemed to stop beating while
she listened. Yes! it was a panting outside--a panting now increased,
multiplied, redoubled, mixed with the sounds of rustling, tearing,
craunching, and occasionally a quick, impatient snarl. She crept on
her hands and knees to the opening and looked out. At first the ground
seemed to be undulating between her and the opposite tree. But a second
glance showed her the black and gray, bristling, tossing backs of
tumbling beasts of prey, charging the carcass of the bear that lay at
its roots, or contesting for the prize with gluttonous, choked breath,
sidelong snarls, arched spines, and recurved tails. One of the boldest
had leaped upon a buttressing root of her tree within a foot of the
opening. The excitement, awe, and terror she had undergone culminated in
one wild, maddened scream, that seemed to pierce even the cold depths of
the forest, as she dropped on her face, with her hands clasped over her
eyes in an agony of fear.

Her scream was answered, after a pause, by a sudden volley of firebrands
and sparks into the midst of the panting, crowding pack; a few smothered
howls and snaps, and a sudden dispersion of the concourse. In another
moment the young man, with a blazing brand in either hand, leaped upon
the body of the bear.

Teresa raised her head, uttered a hysterical cry, slid down the tree,
flew wildly to his side, caught convulsively at his sleeve, and fell on
her knees beside him.

"Save me! save me!" she gasped, in a voice broken by terror. "Save me
from those hideous creatures. No, no!" she implored, as he endeavored
to lift her to her feet. "No--let me