at is a good deal
faster than it looks. Natalie with her tiny bundle had much ado to keep
up, and Garth under his, plodded doggedly behind, with breaking neck and
shoulders. The breeds, careless of their fate, never once looked behind.
Garth had to keep them in sight, or instantly lose the faint trail in
the darkness.

After several miles of this, without warning, the breeds simultaneously
cast their packs on the ground, and took a rest. Every move these strange
creatures made was unexpected. Garth laboriously ridding himself of his
burden, proceeded to read them a severe lecture on the necessity of
accommodating their pace to the lady's for the rest of the way. It
was received with stolid, uncomprehending stares.

Among themselves they gossiped freely enough, and from the frequent
recurrence of the word _moon-i-yas_, Garth knew that he and Natalie were
the subject of it all. The discomforting thought did not fail to suggest
itself that they might be hatching a plot in the very presence of their
intended victims. Their outfit, Garth reflected, must seem a very
fortune to the ragged breeds. He watched them closely.

Presently they set off again as fast as ever, whereupon Garth did as he
should have done at first, lost his temper, and swore at them roundly.
Pake looked around with a gleam of awakened intelligence, and slackened
his pace. After a brief consultation, Pake and another set off in
advance with their share of the goods, leaving the third boy to guide
the feebler steps of the two _moon-i-yas_. Garth wondered if they would
ever see Pake and the boxes again.

It was a long seven miles; and absolute darkness clothed the lofty
aisles of the pine trees long before they finished passing through;
and beyond there were interminable, misty meadows of wild grass to be
crossed. Garth could no longer distinguish any sign of a trail; but the
breed bent steadily ahead. Once or twice an owl whirred suddenly low
over their heads; and somewhere far off a loon guffawed insanely. In
the end their guide, to cheer his own soul, lifted up his voice in the
strident, unearthly chant of the Crees; and it only needed this to add
the last touch of unreality to their eerie journey. They began to feel
like spirits after death, hurried in the darkness they knew not whither.

At last a bright light flared suddenly across the hay marsh; and from
their guide's joyful exclamation, they gathered that it marked the end
of their journey. Fire