ide of the pool. Perhaps that sense of kinship was felt by
the stag, too. It may be that Henry was in spirit an absolute creature
of the wild that morning, and by some unknown transmission of knowledge
the stag knew it.

However it was, the great deer took no fright, but, sniffing the air
once or twice, looked at the great youth, and the great youth looked
back at him. Henry would not have harmed any inhabitant of the forest
then, and the deer may have read it in his eye, as after his first
hesitation he came boldly to the pool and drank his fill. Henry on the
other side was dressing rapidly. When the stag had drunk enough he
raised his head and gazed out of great mild eyes at the human being who
was perhaps the first he had ever seen. Then he turned and stalked
majestically into the forest, his mighty antlers visible after his body
was hidden.

Henry, lying down in the brown grass, remained a half hour by the pool,
and he became a part of the wilderness, recognized as such by the others
that dwelled in it. Wild fowl descended upon the water, swam there a
while and then flew away, but not because of him. A black bear made
havoc in a patch of berries, and paid no attention to the youth.

When he started anew he still kept to the northeast, but he was
uncertain about his immediate action. He did not doubt that Red Eagle
and his host would pick up his trail some time or other, and would
follow with a patience that nothing could discourage. It would not be
wise to turn back to the oasis and his comrades, as that would merely
bring upon them the attack that he had drawn aside. Not knowing what to
do he kept on in his present course until certainty should come to him.

Hunger assailed him and, imitating the bear, he ate great quantities of
berries which were numerous everywhere in the forest. They were not
substantial food, but they must suffice for a time. After a while, when
he felt that he was far beyond the hearing of Red Eagle's men, he would
shoot game, though in his present mood he did not like to kill anything
that lived in the forest. But he knew that he must, in time, overcome
his reluctance, as such a frame as his, in the absence of bread, could
not live without meat.

He saw ahead of him a line of blue hills, much such a region as that in
which lay their warm, stony hollow, and he believed that he might find
kindred shelter there. At least it would be safer from pursuit, and,
keeping a straight course, he rea