danger of betraying his movements.

"Leave--quick!" he said; "they are after us!"

"No, they are not," replied his mother, who nevertheless stood ready to
do as he said.

Ben looked back. The warrior with a torch, after walking a rod or so
from the fire, had stopped, and was now in plain sight, with the flaming
brand held above his head, while he peered out in the gloom in the
direction of the fugitives, as if expecting to discern them.

Could he have known how near they were, he and his companions would have
rushed down upon them; but they must have thought they had fled much
further. It was impossible to trail them by torchlight as fast as they
could travel, and the Indians did not waste time in the effort. The one
with the torch went back to his companions.

The incident warned our friends of a new form of danger, which until
then had not been counted among the probabilities.

The Indians, as you know, can trace a person through the woods with
wonderful skill, seeing signs where the untrained eye observes nothing.
If these three chose to wait where they were until daylight, there was
nothing to prevent their taking up the trail and tracing the fugitives
wherever they went.

"It won't do to stay here," said Ben, "for they will be right upon us at
daylight."

"Providing they wait where they are."

"Why should they not do so? They are looking for us."

Mrs. Ripley dared not answer the question as her heart prompted. At the
same time, she could think of no means of throwing them off their track.

"It might have been better had we stayed with Zitner and Burwink--no, it
would not have been," she corrected herself, "for they were unfriendly
to Linna. But we must go."

The only hope that presented itself was that they might travel so far
during the darkness that the Indians would not keep up the pursuit when
the trail was revealed to them.

The moon did not rise until very late, and there being no path, while
all were in total ignorance of the neighborhood, it will be understood
that they had set to work to do a very hard, if not impossible thing.

Ben as usual took the lead, and, before he had gone twenty steps, was
caught under the chin by a protruding limb that almost lifted him
off his feet. Then he went headlong into a hollow and bruised himself
against some stones. Still, he did not give up, and by and by the ground
became more level and his mishaps less frequent.

Alice and Linna, like little heroin