At intervals he paused and listened, but it seemed as
if everything excepting himself was asleep. He heard no sound of
animal or man: He kept his eyes flitting hither and thither, for he
had hopes of chancing upon the camp-fire of the abductor.

It is always a difficult matter to keep one's "reckoning" in the
woods. If they be of any extent, it requires extraordinary precautions
upon the part of an inexperienced person to prevent himself from
being lost. Should he endeavor to travel by night, it would be almost
a miracle indeed if he could save himself from going totally astray.

Teddy had every disadvantage to contend against, and he had not
journeyed a half-hour, when his idea of his own position was just the
opposite of truth. As he had not yet become aware of it, however, it
perhaps was just as well as if he had committed no error. He was
pressing forward, with that peculiar impelling feeling that it was
only necessary to do so ultimately to reach his destination, when a
star-like glimmer caught his eye. Teddy stopped short, and his heart
gave a great bound, for he believed the all-important opportunity had
now come. He scanned the light narrowly, but it was only a flickering
point, such as a lantern would give at a great distance at night. The
light alone was visible, but no flame. It was impossible to form any
correct idea of its location, although, from the fact that the nature
of the wood must prevent the rays penetrating very far, he was pretty
certain it was comparatively close at hand.

With this belief he commenced making his way toward it, his movements
certifying his consciousness that a mis-step would prove fatal. To his
dismay, however, he had advanced but a dozen steps or so when the
light disappeared, and he found it impossible to recover it. He moved
from side to side, forward and backward, but it availed nothing, and
he was about to conclude it had been extinguished, when he retreated
to his starting-point and detected it at once.

Keeping his eye fixed upon it, he now walked slowly, but at the same
point as before it disappeared. This, he saw, must arise from some
limb, or branch or tree interfering, and it only remained for him to
continue advancing in the same line. Having proceeded a hundred rods
or so, he began to wonder that he still failed to discover it.
Thinking he might be mistaken in the distance, he went forward until
he was sure he had passed far beyond it, when he turned and looked