Oh, I shall not be afraid at all, Mr. Brown. There is nothing to be
afraid of."

This was how it happened that Janet, a while later, was sitting alone
gazing at the North Star. She was looking at that star in particular
because Steve Brown had called her attention to it by way of proving
that he would be able to find his way back to her. At intervals her
eye let go of the star and came back to the fire.

"_I thought I ought to tell you._"

Why ought? If there was no danger at all, and he felt that she would
be afraid, why did he change his mind? This interested her. For a
time the darkness was neglected. Evidently he had planned this and had
no doubts. If a woman is afraid to be alone in the dark, and there is
no danger at all, the most considerate course is to go away when she is
sleeping. He had his ideas of dealing with women. Why then had he
found any difficulty in doing it with her? "I thought I _ought_ to
tell you."

She had said she would not be the least bit afraid. And so she was
not--at first. Before long, however, the Night insisted upon being
seen and heard. Space and darkness began to demand human attention.
Unable to do otherwise, she looked up and contemplated the big
blackboard of night, and especially the North Star, to which the front
stars of the Dipper served as a pointer. And very soon she was wholly
engaged upon the silence.

It is no small thing, if you are not used to it, to occupy a lone
prairie at night. You face the absence of the whole human race. The
ominous stillness centres upon you with all the weight of Past,
Present, and Future. You are sitting up with the universe. And while
you sit there, and keep watch, you feel like the last survivor. Night
burns her solemn tapers over the living and the dead; there is now room
for anything to happen.

Suddenly and without warning, an awful outburst of language sprang from
the very throat of Night and claimed the starry silence for its own.
It was a clap of language which, coming so unexpectedly, seemed to make
the stars all blink at once. Then fell a hush much deeper than the
silence of before. There was a moment of suspense; then a sharp
gunlike report which seemed to crack the silence but not to break it.
Again the threatening voice sounded--this time nearer and more violent.

Janet sprang to her feet and made for the shack--not forgetting,
fortunately, the lamb. Being inside, she dropped the lamb on the bunk
and s