ld the woman must find it utterly impossible to get away.

Already the active mind of the young scout master was busy, weaving a
clever scheme by means of which they could surround the woman, and by
attacking her all at once, succeed in knocking the shining knife out of
her hand.

No doubt he would have succeeded in doing the job, too, had conditions
continued to make such a move necessary.

But they did not.

The fickle hand of Fate came in between just in time to share in the
matter.

It seemed to Elmer that they were constantly getting into a more tangled
mess of undergrowth. All around and ahead were traps calculated to slyly
catch unwary feet and trip them up.

Suddenly Elmer gave vent to a low gasping cry; but while Mark
involuntarily turned his head to learn if his companion had gone lame,
to his surprise and gratification he found the other running as smoothly
and easily as ever, as though perfectly fresh.

"The woman!" shrieked Lil Artha, who, apparently, from his position in
the rear had been enabled to see just what had happened.

"Where--is--she?" gasped Mark, once more allowing his eyes to travel
ahead.

For, apparently, the fleeing Italian had vanished at that instant, as
completely as though the earth had opened and swallowed her up.

"She's down--caught her foot in a root!" cried Elmer, not slackening his
warm pace, for he wanted to make a quick job of the thing.

Then Mark saw that some object was threshing the bushes furiously. Twice
the woman tried to rise, but on each occasion she fell back again.

Then presently he gave a shout as he guessed the true situation.

"She's caught fast in a vine, Elmer. Even the woods work with us! I tell
you she's a prisoner right now! All we've got to do is to tie her
hands!"

"But look out for that dandelion knife, boys," warned Elmer, as the
three of them reached the spot.

CHAPTER XII.

THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNS.

It happened just as the boys had expected. While turning her head so
often to see how near these persistent pursuers were, the woman had
caught her foot in a stout vine.

She had been hurled to the ground with considerable force, but
apparently received no serious injury. When she tried to regain her
feet, however, on each occasion the clinging vine refused to release its
hold. As a consequence she went down again.

Finally, as though realizing the uselessness of further struggling
against Fate, the woman stopped trying to get