h him, then?"

"Yes, but he _appears to be carrying her_; and what that means is more
than I can tell. It can't be she's hurt."

"Maybe, Tom, we ain't on the track of Lew," said Dick, with a hopeful
gleam.

"Yes, we are. I could tell his track among a thousand. The mistake
isn't _there_. All we've got to do is to follow it."

The pursuit was renewed and kept up until the bank of a smaller stream
was reached, where the trail was irrecoverably lost. After leading into
the water, it failed to come out upon the opposite side, and the utmost
skill of the hunters was unable to regain it. The entire day was
consumed by them in the search, when it was given up as hopeless. It
would have been hard to tell which feeling predominated in the breasts
of the two Riflemen--an apprehensive anxiety for the fate of their
leader, or a gratifying pride at this evidence which he had given of
his consummate knowledge of woodcraft.

These two hunters continued their hunt for two days more, when they
returned to the settlement and reported their failure to gain any
definite knowledge of Dernor and Edith. Neither had the settlers gained
any tidings of them.

Where were they?

CHAPTER VI.

A HUNTER'S WOOING.

And we knew
That this rare sternness had its softness too,
That woman's charm and grace upon his being wrought;
That underneath the armor of his breast
Were springs of tenderness, all quick to flow
In sympathy with childhood's joy or woe;
That children climbed his knees, and made his arms their rest.

LONDON CHARIVARI.

It was with a heart beating with more than one excessive emotion, that
Lewis Dernor, the Rifleman, plunged into the forest with Edith Sudbury.
None knew better than he the perils that threatened them in those dim
labyrinths, and none was better prepared to encounter them. Were they
twice as many, he would rather have braved them than allowed Edith and
Sego to meet before he had declared his love to her.

In taking this step, the Rifleman had more than one twinge of
conscience, for he could but consider it of questionable propriety in
acting his part. Beyond a doubt, Sego and Edith were accepted lovers,
who had been separated for months, and it seemed cruel, to say the
least, thus to take advantage of their separation. The more he
reflected upon it, the more guilty did he feel, until he formed the