icked up the blazed trail it was so dark that she could
scarcely follow it; but she felt her way onward, turning often to be sure
that he was following. Once she saw him fall, and cried out: "It's a
shame to make you climb this hill again. It's all my fault. I ought to
have known that that lower road led down into the timber."

Standing close beside him in the darkness, knowing that he was weary,
wet, and ill, she permitted herself the expression of her love and pity.
Putting her arm about him, she drew his cheek against her own, saying:
"Poor boy, your hands are cold as ice." She took them in her own warm
clasp. "Oh, I wish we had never left the camp! What does it matter what
people say?" Then she broke down and wailed. "I shall never forgive
myself if you--" Her voice failed her.

[Illustration: SHE FOUND HERSELF CONFRONTED BY AN ENDLESS MAZE
OF BLACKENED TREE-TRUNKS]

He bravely reassured her: "I'm not defeated, I'm just tired. That's all.
I can go on."

"But you are shaking."

"That is merely a nervous chill. I'm good for another hour. It's better
to keep moving, anyhow."

She thrust her hand under his coat and laid it over his heart. "You are
tired out," she said, and there was anguish in her voice. "Your heart is
pounding terribly. You mustn't do any more climbing. And, hark, there's a
wolf!"

He listened. "I hear him; but we are both armed. There's no danger from
wild animals."

"Come!" she said, instantly recovering her natural resolution. "We can't
stand here. The station can't be far away. We must go on."

VIII

THE OTHER GIRL

The girl's voice stirred the benumbed youth into action again, and he
followed her mechanically. His slender stock of physical strength was
almost gone, but his will remained unbroken. At every rough place she
came back to him to support him, to hearten him, and so he crept on
through the darkness, falling often, stumbling against the trees,
slipping and sliding, till at last his guide, pitching down a sharp
slope, came directly upon a wire fence.

"Glory be!" she called. "Here is a fence, and the cabin should be near,
although I see no light. Hello! Tony!"

No voice replied, and, keeping Wayland's hand, she felt her way along the
fence till it revealed a gate; then she turned toward the roaring of the
stream, which grew louder as they advanced. "The cabin is near the falls,
that much I know," she assured him. Then a moment later she joyfully
cried out: "Here i