nd appearing then like
the mysterious maid I had found reclining among the ferns who had melted
away mist-like from sight as I gazed. When I called she would not now
answer as formerly, but in response would appear in sight as if to
assure me that I had not been forsaken; and after a few moments her grey
shadowy form would once more vanish among the trees. The hope that as
her confidence increased and she grew accustomed to talk with me she
would be brought to reveal the story of her life had to be abandoned, at
all events for the present. I must, after all, get my information from
Nuflo, or rest in ignorance. The old man was out for the greater part
of each day with his dogs, and from these expeditions he brought back
nothing that I could see but a few nuts and fruits, some thin bark for
his cigarettes, and an occasional handful of haima gum to perfume the
hut of an evening. After I had wasted three days in vainly trying to
overcome the girl's now inexplicable shyness, I resolved to give for
a while my undivided attention to her grandfather to discover, if
possible, where he went and how he spent his time.

My new game of hide-and-seek with Nuflo instead of with Rima began
on the following morning. He was cunning; so was I. Going out and
concealing myself among the bushes, I began to watch the hut. That I
could elude Rima's keener eyes I doubted; but that did not trouble me.
She was not in harmony with the old man, and would do nothing to defeat
my plan. I had not been long in my hiding-place before he came out,
followed by his two dogs, and going to some distance from the door,
he sat down on a log. For some minutes he smoked, then rose, and after
looking cautiously round slipped away among the trees. I saw that he was
going off in the direction of the low range of rocky hills south of the
forest. I knew that the forest did not extend far in that direction, and
thinking that I should be able to catch a sight of him on its borders,
I left the bushes and ran through the trees as fast as I could to get
ahead of him. Coming to where the wood was very open, I found that a
barren plain beyond it, a quarter of a mile wide, separated it from the
range of hills; thinking that the old man might cross this open space,
I climbed into a tree to watch. After some time he appeared, walking
rapidly among the trees, the dogs at his heels, but not going towards
the open plain; he had, it seemed, after arriving at the edge of the
wood,