from which they came. But
through it all, ever the same, the never-ending length of track
undulated in slow measure beneath her feet. Overhead the sky was
filled with drifting shadow hosts.

The night blackened. The heavens seemed to draw down upon her and
fantastic ghost creatures of her disordered fancy crept hungrily in.
The warm air hung heavy and still between the flanking forest walls and
she might have been lost in some unreal world but for the rough
insistence of the roadbed through the thin soles of her shoes.

She stopped. A loud rustle of the bushes a few feet away in the dark
set her pulses beating foolishly. Some animal was there, she knew, and
breaking into a run, she fled from the spot, halting only when her
breath gave out. She found herself walking rapidly, agitated and
alert, shuddering with a nameless fear that was getting on her nerves.
She caught herself looking over her shoulder, haunted by the idea that
she was being followed. There seemed to be stealthy, padded footfalls
behind her in the enveloping darkness and numberless eyes that peered
as she passed--small, glowing dots in pairs, close together, that were
gone when she looked a second time. Was it only imagination or were
the soft steps behind her increasing in number? She recalled stories
of wolf packs that had tracked down human beings and had torn them to
pieces! She stood still and listened. But there was nothing--nothing
but blackness and infinite silence.

Very sharply she took herself to task. She must not become nonsensical
like this. There had been noises in the underbrush the other night
when she and he--"Rabbits," he had said. And who ever heard tell of a
rabbit attacking a person? They were given big ears to hear well, so
that they could use their long legs for running away from everything.
The idea of her being afraid of a rabbit!

She laughed nervously. If only she had a revolver or some weapon. Off
the track she was in an instant, groping about in the ballasting for a
large stone. She found two and walked on more confidently, carrying
one in each hand.

A fine drizzle began to fall intermittently. She hoped it would not
rain hard, though after all, what difference did it make whether it did
or not? She would be wet through anyway by the time she got there.

How much longer would that be? She must have come quite a distance
now, and the thought cheered her. The ankle was beginning to give an
occasion