it will light up as it's doing now."

"Then I'll turn in right away," answered the guide. "It's eight
o'clock. You call me at two, and that will be givin' you a fair nap
afore daybreak." And so it was agreed.

It did not take John Barrow long to settle himself, and soon he was
snoring as peacefully as though lying in his bed at home. Sitting down
close to the fire, Dick gave himself up to his thoughts.

And what numerous thoughts they were--of home and of school, of his
brothers, and of the Baxters and their other enemies, and of all that
had happened since they had first started to go to Putnam Hall. And then
he thought of the Lanings and of the Stanhopes, and lingered long over
the mental picture of sweet Dora and of what she had last said to him.

"She's just an all-right girl," he said to himself. "Heaven bless her
and keep her from any further trouble!"

When the fire showed signs of burning low he arose and piled on more
brushwood. There was hardly enough at hand to suit him, and, ax in hand,
he started back from the river, to cut more.

He was within fifteen feet of some dense bushes when of a sudden he came
to a halt, as he saw a pair of gleaming eyes glaring at him. As soon as
he noticed the eyes they disappeared.

"A wild animal," he thought. "Can it be a wolf?"

Retracing his steps to the fire, he caught up his gun and waited. But
the animal did not appear, nor did Dick hear any sound save the murmur
of the wind through the snow-clad trees.

The youth wondered if he ought to awaken the guide, but finally resolved
to let John Barrow sleep. "I ought to be able to take care of one wolf,"
he reasoned. "I've taken care of worse than that in my time."

Gun in hand, he advanced upon the bushes once more. He expected to see a
wolf slink away at any moment, but no beast came to view, and, after
walking completely around the growth, he laid down the gun and went to
work vigorously with the ax.

Bush after bush was brought down in rapid succession, until in ten
minutes Dick calculated he had cut sufficient to last the camp-fire for
the rest of the night. Then he lowered the ax and caught up a large
bush, to drag it close to the blaze.

As he turned around he met a sight that, for the instant, chilled him to
the backbone. There, between the blaze and the tree under which John
Barrow was sleeping, crouched a wildcat, a large, fierce-looking
creature, with fire-shot eyes and a stubby tail which was moving
noi