led into the farmyard, saddled and bridled and riderless!

"Mother'll be scared out of her wits!" thought Ralph. "Gee! I wish
this hadn't happened! I wish Keno hadn't bolted like this! My fault,
I suppose; I ought to have tied him more firmly, but in my hurry to
get the first eagle I neglected to do it!"

Removing his belt, he sat down on a flat stone in the sunlight, and
stared at the ground dejectedly.

"I guess this is when little Weary Willie walks home!" he groaned.
"Confound the luck!"

Suddenly his gaze became riveted on a peculiar mark on the soft dry
loam: the imprint of a large paw like that of a cat rising hastily,
he examined the ground all around the place and discovered many
similar tracks.

"It's a bobcat!" he exclaimed aloud. "A big bobcat or a lynx!
The critter must have frightened old Keno and made him hit the
trail home! Hope I don't meet the brute! I've got only two or
three cartridges left."

Pausing only to remove his coat and shirt and to bathe the upper
part of his body in the stream, he put on his garments again and
set forth along the trail. As he walked slowly through the fragrant
woods, squirrels and jays chattered derisively at him overhead, and
frightened rabbits dashed helter-skelter among the thickets. He
gave them not the slightest heed; his chief interest now was to get
home as soon as possible and to relieve his mother from anxiety
over his absence.

To hasten his arrival he resolved upon taking a short-cut through
the thickest part of the forest, which, though it would eventually
lead him out upon the boundary of Silas Perkins' farm, and necessitate
his crossing that surly neighbor's property, would save at least
two miles of the return journey.

Getting his bearings by the sun, in true woodsman's fashion, he
left the trail and struck off through the unblazed aisles of the
wood, going onward farther and farther at a resolute pace. The
sun presently was obscured by the thick canopy of budding trees,
as Ralph descended into a little hollow between two hills, and
dusky shadows contended with mid-daylight. Still the boy staggered
onward, now and then faltering to rest. His wounds gave him little
pain now, though one eye was badly swollen around the cut. But
it bothered him and distracted his mind; and this was probably
the reason why, in his haste and distress, he found himself growing
more and more bewildered by his surroundings. Finally he realized
that he had l