lly_ depraved," in the sense in
which that much-controverted term is _not_ intended by those who hold
that man is naturally sinful. And, as she had borne children, a
motherly solicitude was now awakened in her heart for Bub, and she
pressed anxiously down the path, while the deepening twilight steadily
increased the gloom that lingered in the shadows of the lofty trees.
The cart track grew less distinct as she advanced; and, as she had not
found Bub, she concluded to return and alarm the neighbors, but found
her course impeded on every side by the thick underbrush, for she had
lost the main path. With desperate efforts she pushed aside the
strong-armed boughs, and struck once more the cart track, as she
supposed; but, alas for her, she was mistaken. Her head had become
bewildered, and she was penetrating into the depths of the forest. On,
on she urged her steps, wondering that she did not come in sight of
the minister's cabin, when, to her delight, she heard a sound like the
crying of a child. Now a heavy load was lifted from her mind.

"I must be nearing the cabin," thought she; "and that's Bub;" and she
called with unusual tenderness, "Bub, Bub! Where are you?"

She listened intently, expecting a response, and heard again the same
sound, but, strangely, farther off. So she quickened her speed,
calling the boy with renewed vigor. Wearied at last in her fruitless
endeavors, she stopped to rest a moment, and collect her scattered
faculties. She was an apt calculator in money matters, and that
faculty, summoned into exercise now, convinced her that she had passed
over many times the distance needed, had she been going in the right
direction; and the horrible conclusion that she was lost in the woods
thrilled her with terror. She recollected also that there had been
stories told of late of a panther's voice being heard in those woods,
and that it sounded like the crying of a child. This increased her
fear.

While she was considering what to do in her extremity, a short, quick
bark, far in the forest behind her, succeeded by a prolonged howl, the
bloodthirsty cry of the "timber wolf,"--which, when once heard, can
never be forgotten,--broke on her ear. She had lived too long in the
wilderness not to know what that meant, and she fled with wondrous
swiftness down the path, on, on, she knew not whither. Her trembling
limbs began to fail; but again the fiendish wolf-cry resounded,
succeeded by that of another, and yet anothe