round to the front, and sidled to the window. Here
there was a light shining dully, but no means of obtaining a view of the
interior. He moved on, and, crouching at the doorway, listened intently. A
few seconds satisfied him. Wanaha was inside; she was awake, for he heard
her moving about. He knew at once that Nevil was out.

With a satisfied sigh he moved away. This time he walked eastward toward
the bridge, keeping close in the shadow of the woods. A couple of hundred
yards from the hut he stopped and took up a position just within the
shelter of the undergrowth, whence he had a perfect view of the open plain
in front, and yet was sufficiently sheltered by the echoing woods to hear
the least movement of any one passing that way. And so he waited.

Nor did he wait long. Eyes and ears trained to this sort of work were
kept ever on the alert. But it was his ears which told him at last of some
one approaching. Some one was moving through the woods. The sound was
faint and distant, but he heard it. There was no mistake. And he knew it
was Nevil Steyne returning home.

Clearing the brush he made his way into the midst of the aisles of
leafless tree-trunks. Pausing in the shadow of one of the forest giants he
waited. The footsteps came nearer. He shifted his position again; for his
ears told him that he was not yet on the track which Nevil would take.

At last, however, he came to a stand, and did not move again. Guided by a
wonderful hearing, he knew that he was in a direct line between the man
approaching and his home.

He leant against a tree, his eyes and ears straining. Some few yards away
there was a shaft of moonlight stretching right across the path which
Nevil must take, and on this path Seth kept his eyes.

The man came on all unconscious of who and what was awaiting him. He had
no thought of his presence at the Sun-dance having been detected. His
thoughts were on what the morrow was to bring forth; on what it would mean
to him when Rosebud was removed from his path. She alone stood between him
and that which he had schemed for ever since the arrival of the memorable
letter from his brother. He was in a mood of intense satisfaction. He knew
that at last he was to realize his desires, that at last he was to pay
off a long score which he owed Seth of White River Farm.

He stepped into the moonlit patch. The sudden flash of light made him
pause. It startled him. He looked beyond apprehensively, then he looked
up