tubbs, and after a good
meal the party started and without incident made eight miles before
they stopped.

They found a good camping place--a sort of crude cave near a brook and
just off the trail. They built a fire and cooked a portion of the leg
of mutton which Flores had brought for them before returning. So far
they had not caught a glimpse of a native. This fact and the
excitement of actually being upon the home path banished them
completely from their minds. But that night both men agreed that each
had better take his turn at watching.

"I'll take the first watch," insisted Wilson to Stubbs. "I wouldn't
trust you to wake me up."

With a good-natured grin Stubbs submitted and threw his tired body on
the turf, making a pillow of the bags of jewels. He slept as heartily
as though snug in the bunk of a safe ship. But both the girl and her
father refused to take Wilson's advice and do likewise. Both insisted
upon sharing his watch with him. The father sat on the other side of
his daughter staring, as though still wondering, into the shadows of
the silent wood kingdom about him. He spoke but little and seemed to
be still trying to clear his thoughts.

At their backs rose the towering summits which still stood between
them and the ocean; above those the stars which from the first had
seemed to watch their lives; before them the heavy, silent shadows
which bade them be ever alert.

Wilson sat upright with his rifle over his knees. The girl nestled
against his shoulder. All was well with the world.

CHAPTER XXVII

_Dangerous Shadows_

In the narration of what had befallen her while in the care of Sorez,
Wilson came to have a new conception of the man. With the exception of
the fact that Sorez had considered his own interest alone in bringing
the girl down here, and that he had lured her on by what he knew to be
a deliberate lie, Sorez had been as kind and as thoughtful of her as
her own father could have been. After their imprisonment in Bogova and
while in hiding from Wilson he had supplied the girl with the best of
nurses and physicians. Furthermore, in order to make what recompense
he could to her in case of an accident to him or in the event of the
failure of their mission, he had, before leaving Bogova, made his
will, bequeathing to her every cent of his real and personal property.
The chief item of this was the house in Boston which he had purchased
as a home for himself and niece, a few months bef