tch, hunted and besieged by the howling Indians, starving perhaps,
creeping at dead of night from the little fort he had held so long and
so valiantly against such overwhelming odds, and, in desperation,
availing himself of his one and only possible escape. Step by step, he
followed him, in imagination, up the awful cliff, clinging for dear
life with fingers worn and lacerated by the grinding stone. Weary and
exhausted, he seemed to see him draw near the top. Then a slip, one
slip of his tired feet, and no hold upon the limestone with his hands
would have power to save him. Down, down----

He turned back to the hut with a sick feeling in his stomach. Securing
his mare to an iron ring, which he found driven firmly into one of the
logs, he proceeded to investigate further. The door was held by a
common latch, and yielded at once when he raised it. It opened inward,
and he waited after throwing it open. He had a strange feeling of
trespass in thus intruding upon what might prove to be the home of
some fur-hunter.

No sound followed the opening of the door. He waited listening; then
at last he stepped forward and announced himself with a sharp "Hello!"

His only answer was the echo of his greeting. Without more ado he
stepped in. For a moment the sharpness of the contrast of light made
it impossible for him to see anything; but presently he became used to
the twilight of the interior, and looked about him curiously. It was
his first acquaintance with a dugout, nor was he impressed with the
comfort it displayed. The place was dirty, unkempt, and his dream of
the picturesque, old-time trapper died out entirely. He beheld walls
bare of all decoration, simply a rough plastering of mud over the
lateral logs; a frowsy cupboard, made out of a huge packing-case,
containing odd articles for housekeeping purposes. There were the
fragments of two chairs lying in a heap beside a dismembered table,
which stood only by the aid of two legs and the centre post which
supported the pitch of the roof. A rough trestle-bed occupied the far
end of the hut, and in shape and make it reminded him of his own bed
in the bunkhouse. But there the resemblance ended, for the palliasse
was of brown sacking, and a pair of dull-red blankets were tumbled in
a heap upon its foot. One more blanket of similar hue was lying upon
the floor; but this was only a torn fragment that had possibly served
as a carpet, or, to judge by other fragments lying about, had b