the forest with the hills
behind him. The form of the bear was disappearing among the trees, but
Henry sent after him his voiceless thanks. Again he felt that he could
not question whether it was chance or intent, but must accept with
gratitude the great favor that had been granted to him. Behind him, as
reminders, came from far across the hills the faint calls of wolf and
owl, the cries of the Indians to one another, as the chiefs directed the
closing in of the ring upon the fugitive who was no longer there, the
fugitive who had been guided in a miraculous manner to the only way of
escape.

He sat down upon a fallen tree trunk, laughing silently at the chagrin
his pursuers would feel when they came upon the lair, the empty lair.
Braxton Wyatt would rage, Blackstaffe would rage, and while Red Eagle
and Yellow Panther might not rage openly, they would burn with internal
fire. Then his laughter gave way to far more solemn feelings. Who was he
to laugh at two great Indian chiefs who certainly would have taken or
slain him had it not been for the intervening miracle?

Henry's heart was filled with admiration and gratitude. He had been a
friend for a day or two to the beasts of the forest and one of them had
come to his rescue. The feeling of reversion to a primitive golden age
was still strong within him, and doubtless the bear, too, had really
felt the sense of kinship. He looked in the direction in which the
shambling animal had gone, but there was no sign of him. Perhaps he had
disappeared forever, because his mission was done.

Again came the calls of animals to one another, the cries of the owl and
wolf, and then their own natural voices, in which Henry now, in fancy or
in fact, detected the note of chagrin. They had found the lair at last,
and they had found it empty! A long yell, fiercer than any of the
others, confirmed him in the belief, and despite the solemnity of his
own feelings at such a time, when he had been saved in such a manner, he
was compelled to laugh silently, but with intense enjoyment.

Then he addressed himself to his new problems. Because he had escaped
with his life, it did not mean that his troubles were ended. The
warriors would come quickly out of the maze and Red Eagle and Yellow
Panther, with the host at their command, would send innumerable scouts
and trailers in every direction to find his new traces. It would be with
them not only a question of removing their enemy, but a matter of pr