the swirl of the furrowing and milling of
painted trout on the spawning beds.

Once she took cover, hearing something stirring; but it was only a
yearling buck that came out of the witch-hazel to stare, stamp, and
wheel and trot away, displaying the danger signal.

In her cartridge-pouch she carried the flat, sealed packet which Clinch
had trusted to her. The sack swayed gently as she strode on, slapping
her left hip at every step; and always her subconscious mind remained on
guard and aware of it; and now and then she dropped her hand to feel of
the pouch and strap.

The character of the forest was now changing as she advanced. The first
tamaracks appeared, slim, silvery trunks, crowned with the gold of
autumn foliage, outer sentinels of that vast maze of swamp and stream
called Owl Marsh, the stronghold and refuge of forest wild things --
sometimes the sanctuary of hunted men.

From Star Peak's left flank an icy stream clatters down to the level
floor of the woods, here; and it was here that Eve had meant to quench
her thirst with a mouthful of sweet water.

But as she approached the tiny ford, warily, she saw a saddled horse
tied to a sapling and a man seated on a mossy log.

The trappings of horse, the grey-green uniform of the man, left no room
for speculation; a trooper of the State Constabulary was seated there.

His cap was off; his head rested on his palm. Elbow on knee, he sat
there gazing at the water -- watching the slim fish, perhaps, darting up
stream toward their bridal-beds hidden far away at the headwaters.

A detour was imperative. The girl, from the shelter of a pine, looked
out cautiously at the trooper. The sudden sight of him had merely
checked her; now the recognition of his uniform startled her heart out
of its tranquil rhythm and set the blood burning in her cheeks.

There was a memory of such a man seared into the girl's very soul; -- a
man whose head and shoulders resembled this man's, -- who had the same
bright hair, the same slim and powerful body, -- and who moved, too, as
this young man moved.

The trooper stirred, lifted his head to relight his pipe.

The girl knew him. Her heart stood still; then heart and blood ran riot
and she felt her knees tremble, -- felt weak as she rested against the
pine's huge trunk and covered her face with unsteady fingers.

Until the moment, Eve had never dreamed what the memory of this man
really meant to her, -- never dreamed that she had