irection once she found a lumber road that
lay to the right of them a couple of miles away.

Weary as they were, the Overlanders were quite willing to get away
without loss of time from the scene of their troubles. Their equipment
had suffered some, but none was left behind. While they were packing,
Tom, in order to make them understand that they had gained the ill-will
of desperate men, decided to tell them of the dynamiting of the tree,
and declared that it was his belief that Peg Tatem's lumberjacks had
done the deed, intending that the tree should fall on the camp while
they were asleep.

"There are fellows in Forty-three's gang that were in the mob at
Bisbee's Corners," declared Tom with emphasis.

"Are they likely to follow us?" asked Elfreda.

"I don't believe they will stray far from their own camp, but they may
try to get us before we leave here. Therefore let's go. They have work
to do in their own camp, you see," reminded Tom.

Packing and breaking camp were accomplished quickly. Ponies were
saddled, packs lashed on, after which the party started away, the guide
leading, carrying a kerosene dash-lamp to assist her in reading blazes
on trees and avoiding obstructions, for the lamp had a reflector that
threw a fairly strong bar of light.

Daylight must see the Overland Riders some miles from the scene of their
fight with the men from Forty-three, and there must be as little trail
left as possible. For the latter reason, Joe Shafto kept to such ground
as was covered with a mat of pine needles. These, being springy, gave
way under the hoofs of the horses, leaving no hoof-prints, no trail.
Of the Overland Riders only two persons observed this--Tom and Grace,
for, in her brief trips with him into the woods where he, as a forester,
spent much time, Grace had learned a great deal about forestry work.

No halt was made until midnight, when the forest woman reined in and
directed a ray of light against a huge pine tree.

"A fresh blaze," said Tom, as he trotted up to her to see what the blaze
indicated.

"A blaze with a bent arrow cut in it, the arrow smeared with dirt to
make it stand out. Clever, but what does it mean, Mrs. Shafto?" he
asked.

"It's a warnin', Cap'n."

"Of what?"

"That I don't rightly know. The arrow, I reckon, points at the danger."

"Is the arrow not pointed in the direction of our old camp?" asked
Elfreda.

"Ye guessed it, Miss Briggs. That means we'd better be moseying along
r