ashed into yielding, rotten wood.

Instantly the powers of the wilderness took their long-awaited toll. Ben
had been unwary, too absorbed by his swirling thoughts to mark the
ambush of death that had been prepared for him. Ever to keep watch, ever
to be on guard: such is the first law of the wild; and Ben had
disregarded it. Half of the tree had been rotten, changing the direction
of its fall and crashing it down before its time.

Ben leaped for his life, instinctively aiming for the shelter of the log
against which he had inclined his rifle; but the blow came too soon. He
was aware only of the rush of air as he leaped, an instant's hovering at
the crest of a depthless chasm, then the sense of a mighty, resistless
blow hurling him into infinity.

Ben's rifle, catching the full might of the blow, was broken like a
match. Ben himself was crushed to earth as beneath a meteor, the branchy
trunk shattering down upon his stalwart form like the jaws of a great
trap. He uttered one short, half-strangled cry.

Then the darkness, shot with varied and multiple lights, dropped over
him. The noise of the falling tree died away; the forest-dwellers
returned to their varied activities. The rain clouds deepened and spread
above his motionless form.

XXXIV

Beatrice's dreams were troubled after Ben's departure into the forest.
She tossed and murmured, secretly aware that all was not well with her.
Yet in the moments that she half-wakened she ascribed the vague warning
to nervousness only, falling immediately to sleep again. Wakefulness
came vividly to her only with the beginnings of twilight.

She opened her eyes; the cavern was deep with shadow. She lay resting a
short time, adjusting her eyes to the soft light. In an instant all the
dramatic events of the day were recalled to her: the tin cup that had
held the poison still lay against the wall, and the liquor still stained
the sandy floor, or was it only a patch of deeper shadow?

She wondered why Ben did not come into the cave. Was he embittered
against her, after all; had he spoken as he did just from kindness, to
save her remorse? She listened for the familiar sounds of his fuel
cutting, or his other work about the camp. Wherever he was, he made no
sound at all.

She sat up then, staring out through the cavern maw. For an instant she
experienced a deep sense of bewilderment at the pressing gloom, so
mysterious and unbroken over the face of the land. But soon she
unde