d. From this arose the twisted,
gaunt gray skeletons of dead oaks. To complete the drear picture a row
of rusty-black vultures sat along the broad naked limb of the nearest of
these hulks, their red-raw heads upraised as they croaked and sidled up
and down.

[Illustration: _The canoe floated almost of its own volition into a dead
and distorted strip of country._]

But the bayou Val was following merely skirted this region, and in a few
moments he was again within the shelter of flower-grown banks. Then he
came upon a structure which must have been the fur rack Sam Two had
alluded to, for here was their other boat moored to a convenient willow.

Val fastened the canoe beside it. The turf seemed springy, though here
and there it gave way to patches of dark mud. It was on one of these
that Ricky had left her mark in the clean-cut outline of the sole of her
riding-boot.

With a last desperate slap at a mosquito Val headed inland, following
with ease that trail of footprints. Ricky was suffering, too, for her
rashness he noted with satisfaction when he discovered a long curly hair
fast in the grip of a thorny branch he scraped under.

But the path was not a bad one. And the farther he went the more solid
and the dryer it became. Once he passed through a small clearing,
man-made, where three or four cotton bushes huddled together forlornly
in company with a luxuriant melon patch.

And the melon patch was separated by only a few feet of underbrush from
Jeems' domain. In the middle of a clearing was a sturdy platform,
reinforced with upright posts and standing about four feet from the
surface of the ground. On this was a small cabin constructed of slabs of
bark-covered wood. As a dwelling it might be crude, but it had an air of
scrupulous neatness. A short distance to one side of the platform was a
well-built chicken-run, now inhabited by five hens and a ragged-tailed
cock.

The door of the cabin was shut and there were no signs of life save the
chickens. But as Val lowered himself painfully onto the second step of
the ladder-like stairs leading up to the cabin, he thought he heard
someone moving around. Glancing up, he saw Ricky staring down at him,
open-mouthed.

"Hello," she called, for one of the few times in her life really
astounded.

"Hello," Val answered shortly and shifted his weight to try to relieve
the ache in his knee. "Nice day, isn't it?"

CHAPTER XI

RALESTONES TO THE RESCUE!

"Val! What