e upon them
in the very midst of their retreat? He believed that it was so. A
little further observation showed figures among the trees moving to
and fro, and soon he distinguished faint traces of smoke in other
places, which he had not seen at first, as though there were more
fires than one.

Dacres exulted with a fierce and vengeful joy over this discovery. He
felt now not like the fugitive, but rather the pursuer. He looked down
upon this as the tiger looks from his jungle upon some Indian village.
His foes were numerous, but he was concealed, and his presence
unsuspected. He grasped his dagger with a firmer clutch, and then
pondered for a few minutes on what he had better do next.

One thing was necessary first of all, and that was to get as near as
he possibly could without discovery. A slight survey of the situation
showed him that he might venture much nearer; and his eye ran along
the border of the lake which lay between him and the old house, and he
saw that it was all covered over with a thick fringe of trees and
brush-wood. The narrow valley along which he had come ended at the
shore of the lake just below him on his right, and beyond this the
shore arose again to a height equal to where he now was. To gain that
opposite height was now his first task.

Before starting he looked all around, so as to be sure that he was not
observed. Then he went back for some distance, after which he
descended into the valley, crouching low, and crawling stealthily
among the brush-wood. Moving thus, he at length succeeded in reaching
the opposite slope without appearing to have attracted any attention
from any pursuers. Up this slope he now moved as carefully as ever,
not relaxing his vigilance one jot, but, if possible, calling into
play even a larger caution as he found himself drawing nearer to those
whom he began to regard as his prey.

Moving up this slope, then, in this way, he at length attained the
top, and found himself here among the forest trees and underbrush.
They were here even denser than they were on the place which he had
just left. As he moved along he saw no indications that they had been
traversed by human footsteps. Every thing gave indication of an
unbroken and undisturbed solitude. After feeling his way along here
with all the caution which he could exercise, he finally ventured
toward the shore of the lake, and found himself able to go to the very
edge without coming to any open space or crossing a