l be easier gettin' on with un free, and I'll travel a
rare lot faster with my arms loose."

Burning the strings from his wrists, however, proved a much more
difficult problem than burning them from his ankles. He sat down with
his back to the hot end of the stick, but discovered that it was no
easy matter to find just the right position between the wrists.
Several efforts resulted only in painful burns on his hands, but he
was not discouraged, and finally was rewarded. The string where it
crossed between his wrists was brought into contact with the sharp
point of the glowing hot stick, and though the reflected heat burned
him cruelly he held the string pressed against the fire until at last
it crumbled away and his hands flew apart.

"She took grit," said he, "but I made out to do un."

With the joy of freedom and the anxiety to escape his tormentors,
Jamie was oblivious to the pain of his burned and blistered wrists. He
could use both hands and feet, and was confident that he would soon
find the camp and his friends.

Jamie ran as fast as his short legs would carry him. The snow was
nearly knee deep, but it was soft and feathery and he scarcely gave it
thought at first. He had no doubt that he knew exactly in which
direction camp lay, and it never entered his head that he might go
wrong or lose his way as he dashed through the woods at the best speed
of which he was capable.

Presently the impediment of the snow compelled him to reduce his gait
to a walk, and for nearly an hour he pushed on in what he supposed was
a straight line, when he came suddenly upon fresh axe cuttings and a
moment later saw through the thickly falling snow a familiar lean-to.
He stopped in consternation and fright, scarcely knowing which way to
turn. He was within fifty feet of the two desperate men from whom he
had so recently fled. In the storm he had made a complete circuit.

The men were still soundly sleeping, and instinctively Jamie backed
away. He had lost a full hour of valuable time. The men might awake at
any moment, discover his absence and trail him and overtake him in the
snow.

These thoughts flashed through Jamie's mind, and in wild panic he
turned and ran until at length exhaustion brought him to a halt.

"They'll sure be cotchin' me," he panted, "and I'm not knowin' the way
in the snow! I'll be goin' right around and comin' back again to the
same place if I don't look out! I can't bide here," he continued in
desperat