appearing boat.

A wild cry followed the shot, and the sound was still echoing in the
wood when Abel Merriweather reached his side.

It did not need the settler's white face to tell the scout what had
happened. Mrs. Merriweather's shriek had already told him.

_Kate was gone!_

CHAPTER IX.

THE ARMS OF THE DEAD.

There was no disguising the fact that Kate Merriweather was missing.

Harvey Catlett felt that the stealthy tread which had fallen upon his
ears was that of her abductor, and he upbraided himself for what he
self-accusingly termed his inactivity.

It is true that the hawk cry which he construed into a preconcerted
signal had roused him to action; but the boat and its occupants, one of
whom was doubtless the settler's daughter, had left the shore. And he
had fired into the craft without thinking that his ball might find the
heart of the fair girl, and imperil his own life.

It was a startled group that surrounded the young scout, and almost
uncontrollable anger flashed in Oscar Parton's eyes. Kate had been
abducted during Catlett's hour on guard!

The fact was sufficient to give birth to a new and bitter forest feud.
But the young borderer avoided the lover's gaze, as he did not desire to
enter into a controversy which calmer moments would make appear
ridiculous.

With remarkable tact and secrecy the girl had been stolen from the couch
in the boat. Even Carl's wakefulness had failed to baffle the thief.

Since the scout's arrival a feeling of security had settled over the
camp, and the sleep of its inmates was deeper than it had been for many
nights.

The abductor probably knew this; but at any rate he had carried out his
scheme at a propitious moment.

In the exciting council that followed the abduction an hundred
suggestions were offered, to be rejected. Wolf Cap and his friend hardly
unsealed their lips, but listened attentively to all that was said.

"Now what say you, Wolf Cap?" said Abel Merriweather, appealing to the
tall man. "You have not said ten words about my dear child's peril, and
we know that you are a king in these forests; and you have said that you
would get us to Wayne or die in the attempt. For God's sake suggest some
plan of swift rescue, for we are tortured almost beyond endurance."

Slowly Wolf Cap turned upon the settler, who held his white-faced,
anguish-stricken wife to his bosom, waiting for a reply which he felt
would be freighted with salvation or doom.