e he was intently studying them, he felt his hand rudely knocked
up, so that the bits of wood flew out of it.

"Pierre! Stop that!"

"Don't you know what that is? A warning--a sign--an omen. Oh! if I had
never come upon this trip!"

"You foolish fellow. Just as I thought you were beginning to get
sense. Nothing in the world but decayed bark and chemical----"

Pierre stopped his ears.

"I was dreaming of the mere. She came with her apron to her eyes and
her clothes in tatters. She was scolding----"

"Perfectly natural."

"And begging me----"

"Not to eat so many half-baked beans for supper."

"There's something wrong at the island. I saw the cabin all dark. I
saw Margot's eyes red with weeping."

"No doubt Tom has been into fresh mischief and your mother has
punished him."

Pierre ignored these flippant interruptions, but rehearsed his dismal
visions till Adrian lost patience and pushed him aside.

"Go. Bring an armful of fresh wood; some that isn't phosphorescent, if
you prefer. That'll wake you up and drive the megrims out of your
mind."

"'Tis neither of them things. 'Tis a warning. They were all painted
with black, and all the Hollow creatures were painted, too. 'Tis a
warning. I shall see death before I am----"

Even while he maundered on in this strain he was unconsciously obeying
the command to fetch wood, and moved toward a pile left ready. Now, in
raking this together, Adrian had, also, swept that spot of ground
clean and exposed; and what neither had observed in the twilight was
plainly revealed by the glow and shadows cast by the fire.

This was a low, carefully made mound that, in shape and significance,
could be confounded with no other sort of mound, wherever met. Both
recognized it at once, and even upon Adrian the shock was painful;
but its effect upon superstitious Pierre was far greater. With a
shriek that startled the silence of the forest he flung himself
headlong.

CHAPTER XVI

DIVERGING ROADS

"Get up, Pierre. You should be ashamed of yourself!"

It needed a strong and firm grasp to force the terrified lad to his
feet and even when he, at last, stood up he shivered like an aspen.

"A grave!"

"Certainly. A grave. But neither yours nor mine. Only that of some
poor fellow who has died in the wilderness. I'm sorry I piled the
brush upon it, yet glad we discovered it in the end."

"Gla-a-ad!" gasped the other.

"Yes. Of course. I mean to cover it with fresh sods a