the Indian
stealing nearer me in the darkness. I dared not look behind me, I
dared hardly move forward, but my dread of the wood was greater
than that of the open beach, and I somehow managed to clamber down
the cliff and took shelter behind a great bowlder, where I could
hear the soothing ripple of the water and feel the soft wind against
my face. It brought a sense of being removed from the land and men;
I was more alone, but I felt safer.

The chill of the night struck through me to the bone, and I was
burdened with its length; it seemed as if time were standing still.
But at last I was roused by the hoarse call of birds passing high
overhead, and saw the sky was paling in the east. Slowly, slowly
the gray dawn came, trees began to detach themselves and stand out
against the sky, rocks took a vague form against the sands, the
wicker lines of the fishery grew distinct in the receding waters,
while white wreaths of mist rose smoke-like from the Little River.

Slowly, slowly grew the glory in the east, and when at length the
first beams of the sun struck strong and clear across the bay,
making a shining pathway to my very feet, it seemed so actually a
Heaven-sent way of escape that, trembling in every limb, I rose
and staggered forward as if it were possible to tread it; and then,
recovering my distracted senses, I fell to crying like a child.

The tears brought relief, and I began to bestir myself, to move
about quickly, until I could feel my stiffened limbs again, and
recovered some sense of warmth. I did not dare to leave the open
security of the beach until the sun was higher, when I wandered
out to the extreme end of the sands, looking anxiously for some
answer to my signal from the Isle aux Coudres, but the opposite
shore, was hidden by a close bank of white cloud, broken only by
the rounded tops of the mountains above Les Eboulements. Presently
the cloud began to lift and scatter, and I could make out the island
lying low and dun against the higher main-land. But no answering
smoke broke the clear morning air; indeed, it seemed impossible
that my signal, which had not burned for an hour at most, could be
seen at such a distance. I turned away with an empty heart, when
I caught sight of a boat standing up close inshore, her sails filled
with the freshening morning breeze.

The mere presence of a means of escape changed everything in a
moment. I was filled with a new courage, and climbing to the top
of the o