e, and some flint arrow-heads. Indians had been in there,
probably having come from the opposite direction to Slone's. This
encouraged him, for where Indians could hunt so could he. Soon he was
entering a forest where cedars and pinyons and pines began to grow
thickly. Presently he came upon a faintly defined trail, just a dim,
dark line even to an experienced eye. But it was a trail, and Wildfire
had taken it.

Slone halted for the night. The air was cold. And the dampness of it
gave him an idea there were snow-banks somewhere not far distant. The
dew was already heavy on the grass. He hobbled the horses and put a
bell on Nagger. A bell might frighten lions that had never heard one.
Then he built a fire and cooked his meal.

It had been long since he had camped high up among the pines. The sough
of the wind pleased him, like music. There had begun to be prospects of
pleasant experience along with the toil of chasing Wildfire. He was
entering new and strange and beautiful country. How far might the chase
take him? He did not care. He was not sleepy, but even if he had been
it developed that he must wait till the coyotes ceased their barking
round his camp-fire. They came so close that he saw their gray shadows
in the gloom. But presently they wearied of yelping at him and went
away. After that the silence, broken only by the wind as it roared and
lulled, seemed beautiful to Slone. He lost completely that sense of
vague regret which had remained with him, and he forgot the Stewarts.
And suddenly he felt absolutely free, alone, with nothing behind to
remember, with wild, thrilling, nameless life before him. Just then the
long mourn of a timber wolf wailed in with the wind. Seldom had he
heard the cry of one of those night wanderers. There was nothing like
it--no sound like it to fix in the lone camper's heart the great
solitude and the wild.

CHAPTER V

In the early morning when all was gray and the big, dark pines were
shadowy specters, Slone was awakened by the cold. His hands were so
numb that he had difficulty starting a fire. He stood over the blaze,
warming them. The air was nipping, clear and thin, and sweet with
frosty fragrance.

Daylight came while he was in the midst of his morning meal. A white
frost covered the ground and crackled under his feet as he went out to
bring in the horses. He saw fresh deer tracks. Then he went back to
camp for his rifle. Keeping a sharp lookout for game, he continued his