changed his direction and was going west, still keeping in the
shelter of the trees. When he had been gone about five minutes, I
dropped to the ground and started in pursuit; once more I caught sight
of him through the trees, and I kept him in sight for about twenty
minutes longer; then he came to a broad strip of dense wood which
extended into and through the range of hills, and here I quickly lost
him. Hoping still to overtake him, I pushed on, but after struggling
through the underwood for some distance, and finding the forest growing
more difficult as I progressed, I at last gave him up. Turning eastward,
I got out of the wood to find myself at the foot of a steep rough hill,
one of the range which the wooded valley cut through at right angles. It
struck me that it would be a good plan to climb the hill to get a view
of the forest belt in which I had lost the old man; and after walking a
short distance I found a spot which allowed of an ascent. The summit of
the hill was about three hundred feet above the surrounding level and
did not take me long to reach; it commanded a fair view, and I now saw
that the belt of wood beneath me extended right through the range, and
on the south side opened out into an extensive forest. "If that is your
destination," thought I, "old fox, your secrets are safe from me."

It was still early in the day, and a slight breeze tempered the air and
made it cool and pleasant on the hilltop after my exertions. My scramble
through the wood had fatigued me somewhat, and resolving to spend some
hours on that spot, I looked round for a comfortable resting-place. I
soon found a shady spot on the west side of an upright block of stone
where I could recline at ease on a bed of lichen. Here, with shoulders
resting against the rock, I sat thinking of Rima, alone in her wood
today, with just a tinge of bitterness in my thoughts which made me hope
that she would miss me as much as I missed her; and in the end I fell
asleep.

When I woke, it was past noon, and the sun was shining directly on me.
Standing up to gaze once more on the prospect, I noticed a small wreath
of white smoke issuing from a spot about the middle of the forest belt
beneath me, and I instantly divined that Nuflo had made a fire at that
place, and I resolved to surprise him in his retreat. When I got down
to the base of the hill the smoke could no longer be seen, but I had
studied the spot well from above, and had singled out a large c