he became aware of
two men beaching a canoe. Instantly she slipped behind a tree, and from
this point of vantage looked again. The men had lifted the canoe clear
of the water and were now standing upright with their faces to her not
twenty-five yards from the place of her concealment. On this second
glance she recognized them instantly. One of the men was Gerald Ainley
and the other was the Indian, Joe.

For a moment she stood there without moving, then very cautiously she
drew back into the wood behind her, and gradually worked her way to a
place along the lakeside where the undergrowth was very thick, and
where she could watch without fear of discovery. She was less than a
quarter of a mile away from the place where the two had landed, and as
she watched them making camp, the smell of their fire was blown across
to her. Neither of the two travellers showed any disposition to leave
the lakeside, and she watched them for quite a long time, a look of
deep perplexity on her face.

They were friends! She had no doubt that they were looking for herself.
They represented ease and safety, and a quick return to the amenities
of civilization, but she had no desire to discover herself to them. She
thought of the injured man lying in the tent a mile away. It was
possible that the coming of these two, if she made her presence known,
might prove to be beneficial for him. She weighed that side of the
matter very carefully, and her eyes turned to the canoe in which the
men travelled. It was, she recognized, too small to carry four people,
one of whom would have to lie at length in it; and she knew
instinctively that Ainley would propose to leave the Indian behind to
look after Stane whilst he took her back to her uncle. And she was
conscious of a surprising aversion to any such course; aware that she
was satisfied with things as they were. She crouched there for quite a
long time, then a whimsical smile came on her face, and without a
regret she crept quietly away through the forest, leaving the two
searchers unaware of her presence.

When she reached the encampment she looked into the hut and found that
Stane was fast asleep. She smiled to herself, and instead of
replenishing the failing fire, carefully extinguished it with earth,
that neither the glare nor the smoke of it might reach the two
searchers and so lead to the discovery of the camp. Then, having done
all she could to ensure Stane and herself remaining undisturbed in
t