ore the
stove in an upright position, breathed with his mouth open, and bestowed
on the visitors such cheerful and animated looks that they talked to and
patted him. Their own dogs had been shut into the empty ox-shed for the
sake of peace, and the house-dog was very much master of the situation.

Of the party, the two surveyors--one older and one younger--were men of
refinement and education. British they were, or of such Canadian birth
and training as makes a good imitation. Five of the others were
evidently of humbler position--axe-men and carriers. The eighth man, who
completed the party, was a young American, a singularly handsome young
fellow--tall and lithe. He did not stay in the room with the others, but
lounged outside by himself, leaning against the front of the house in
the white cold sunlight.

In the meantime Bates, having searched the sheds and inspected with
careful eyes the naked woods above the clearing, came back
disconsolately by the edge of the ravine, peering into it suspiciously
to see if the girl could, by some wild freak, be hiding there. When he
came to the narrow strip of ground between the wall of the house and the
broken bank he found himself walking knee-deep in the leaves that the
last night's gale had drifted there, and because the edge of the ravine
was thus entirely concealed, he, remembering Sissy's warning, kicked
about the leaves cautiously to find the crack of which she had spoken,
and discovered that the loose portion had already fallen. It suddenly
occurred to him to wonder if the girl could possibly have fallen with
it. Instantly he sprang down the ravine, feeling among the drifted
leaves on all sides, but nothing except rock and earth was to be found
under their light heaps. It took only a few minutes to assure him of the
needlessness of his fear. The low window of the room in which Sissy had
slept looked out immediately upon this drift of leaves, and, as Bates
passed it, he glanced through the uncurtained glass, as if the fact that
it was really empty was so hard for him to believe that it needed this
additional evidence. Then the stacks of fire-wood in front of the house
were all that remained to be searched, and Bates walked round, looking
into the narrow aisles between them, looking at the same time down the
hill, as if it might be possible that she had been on the shore and he
had missed her.

"What are you looking for?" asked the young American. The question was
not put