ot rest here for
this one night?"

"Yes," said Landless gently, reading, as he read all her fancies and
desires, her longing for the companionship of a woman, though for so
short a time. The Indian, too, nodded assent. "Good! but Monakatocka
will watch to-night."

They moved through the checkered light and shade towards the man who
worked at the foot of the knoll. They were quite near him when the
woman, whose voice they had heard, came to the door of the cabin, shaded
her eyes with her hand, looked towards the ravine, and saw the three
figures emerging from it. With a loud cry she snatched up the child at
her feet and rushed down the knoll towards the man, who at the sound of
her voice dropped his axe, caught up a musket which leaned against a
stump beside him, and wheeling, presented the gun at the newcomers.

"Give me your kerchief, madam," said Landless, and advanced with the
white lawn in his hand.

"Halt!" cried the man with the gun.

"We are friends," called Landless. "This lady and I are from the
Settlements. This Indian is not Algonquin, but Iroquois--a
Susquehannock, as you may tell by his size. You need have no fear. We
are quite alone."

The man slowly lowered his gun. "What, in the name of all the fiends, do
you here?" he said, wiping away with the back of his hand the cold sweat
that had sprung to his forehead. He was a tall man with a sinewy frame
and a dare-devil face, tanned to well-nigh the hue of the Indian.

"I might ask the same question of you," said Landless, coming up to him
with a smile. "This lady was captured and carried off by a band of
roving Ricahecrians who bore her into the Blue Mountains. We ask your
hospitality for to-night. The lady is very weary, and she has not seen
the face of a woman for many weeks. Your good wife will entreat her
kindly, I know."

The woman, who now stood beside the man, smiled, but doubtfully; the
man's face too was clouded, and there was an uneasy light in his eyes.
Landless, looking steadily at him, saw upon his forehead a mark which
served to explain his evident perturbation.

"You need not fear me," he said quietly. "'Tis none of our business how
you come to be here in this wilderness, so far from what has been
counted the furthest outpost."

The man, feeling his gaze upon him, raised his hand with an involuntary
motion to his forehead, then dropped it, awkwardly enough.

"I see," said Landless. "I understand. I have been--I am--a servant. A
ru