e
scene before the door, though the site had evidently been chosen for its
beauty.

He had nothing by which to measure time, but he knew that precious hours
which he might have utilized for escape were passing. He began to chafe at
the delay. With the impulse of youth to be active, he longed to be out,
where he could at least use his feet. His clothes had dried upon him; in
spite of his hunger he was refreshed by his night's sleep; he was
convinced that, once in the open, he could elude capture. He pulled back
the curtain again in order to reconnoitre. It was well to be as familiar
as possible with the immediate lay of the land, so as to avail himself of
any advantages it might offer.

The colors of sunrise had disappeared, and he judged that it must be
seven or eight o'clock. Between the rifts of the lower hills the lake was
flashing silver, while where Vermont had been nothing but a mass of
shadow, blue-green mountains were emerging in a triple row, from which the
last veils of vapor were being dragged up into the firmament On the left,
the Adirondacks were receding into translucent dimness, in a lilac haze of
heat.

With an effort to get back the woodcraft suddenly inspired by his first
dash for freedom, he ran his eye over the landscape, noting the points
with which he was familiar. To the west, in a niche between Graytop and
the double peak of Windy Mountain, he could place the county-town; to the
north, beyond the pretty headlands and the shining coves, the prison of
Plattsville was waiting to receive him. Farther to the north was Canada;
and to the south the great waterway led toward the populous mazes of New
York.

With an impatience bordering on nervousness he realized that these general
facts did not help him. He must avoid the prison and the county-town, of
course; while both New York and Canada offered him ultimate chances. But
his most pressing dangers lurked in the immediate foreground; and there he
could see nothing but an unsuggestive slope of ash and pine. The rapidity
of instinct by which last night he had known exactly what to do gave place
this morning to his slower and more characteristic mental processes.

He was still gazing outward in perplexity, when, through the trees beyond
the grassy ledge, he caught the flicker of something white. He pressed
closer to the pane for a better view, and a few seconds later a girl, whom
he recognized as the nymph of last night, came out of the forest,
follo