ld, purposeless dash through the underbrush, looked
up with bright eyes whose expression conveyed both worship and a
question, and, as the man bent and stroked his wiry coat, rustled the
pine needles with his stubby tail.

The picture held no other animate creatures, and no other sound
disturbed the silence of the woods.

By the hunter's serviceable nickeled timepiece the afternoon was not
spent; but the sun was already swinging low over the western
mountaintop, and its slanting rays, as they filtered through the leafy
network overhead, had begun to take on the richer gold of early evening,
and the thick forest foliage of oddly intermingled oak and pine, beech
and poplar, was assuming deeper, more velvety tones. There was solemn
beauty in the scene; but, for the moment, the man was out of tune with
the vibrant color harmonies, and he frankly stated the reason in his
next words, which were addressed to his unlovely canine companion, whose
sagacity more than compensated for his appealing homeliness.

"Mike, we're lost!"

City born and bred though he was, the man took a not unjustifiable pride
in the woodcraft which he had acquired during many vacations spent in
the wilds; hence it was humiliating to have to admit that fact--even to
his dog. To be sure, the fastnesses of the border Cumberlands were new
to him; but his vanity was hurt by the realization that he had tramped
for nearly an hour through serried ranks of ancient trees and crowding
thickets of laurel and rhododendron--which seemed to take a personal
delight in impeding the progress of a "furriner"--and over craggy rocks,
only to find, at the end of that time, that he was entering one end of a
short ravine from the other end of which he had started with the vague
purpose of seeking the path by which he had climbed from the valley
village.

Moreover, a subtle change was taking place in the air. Faint breezes,
the sighing heralds of advancing evening, were now beginning to steal
slowly out from the picturesque, seamed rocks of the ravine and from
behind each gnarled or stately tree, with an unmistakable warning.

There was clearly but one logical course for him to pursue--head
straight up the mountainside until he should arrive at some commanding
clearing whence he could recover his lost bearings and establish some
landmarks for a fresh start downward. With his square jaw set in a
decisive manner, the man picked up his gun, threw back his heavy
shoulders, and