rail, which was a sort of wide wagon road at first, became a
footpath; as we went on even that disappeared at times under fallen
leaves. Once we lost it entirely, and Aggie, falling over a hidden root,
stilled the fire. She became exceedingly disagreeable at about that
time, said she was sure Tish's mushrooms were toadstools because she
felt very queer, and suddenly gave a yell and said she had seen
something moving in the bushes.

We all looked, and the bushes were moving.

III

It was dusk by that time and the path was only a thread between masses
of undergrowth. Tish said if it was the bear he would be afraid of the
fire, so we put dry leaves in the kettle and made quite a blaze. By its
light Tish read that bears in the summer are full fed and really
frolicsome and that they are awful cowards. We felt quite cheered and
brave, and Tish said if he came near to throw the fire kettle at him and
he'd probably die of fright.

It was too late to put up the tepee, so we found a clearing near the
path and decided to spend the night there. Aggie still watched the
bushes and wanted to spend the night in a tree; but Tish's calmness was
a reproach to us both, and after we had emptied the kettle and made
quite a fire to keep off animals, we unrolled our blankets and prepared
for sleep. I could have slept anywhere, although I was still rather
hungry. My last view was of Tish in the firelight grimly bending down a
sapling and fastening a rabbit snare to it.

During the night I was wakened by somebody clutching my arm. It was
Aggie who lay next to me. When I raised my head she pointed off into the
woods to our left. At a height of perhaps four feet from the ground a
ghastly red glow was moving rapidly away from us. It was not a torch; it
was more a radiance, and it moved not evenly, but jerkily. I could feel
the very hair rising on my head and it was all I could do to call Tish.
When we had roused her, however, the glow had faded entirely and she
said we had had a nightmare.

The snare the next morning contained a skunk, and we moved on as quickly
as possible, without attempting to secure the thong, of which we had
several. We gathered some puffballs to soak for breakfast and in a
clearing I found some blackberry bushes. We were very cheerful that
morning, for if we could capture rabbits and skunks, we were sure of
other things, also, and soon we would be able to add fish to our menu.
True, we had not had much time to