im, and, as he was bound to acknowledge to
himself, the bear's instinct was doubtless right. He rose, went into
the hut, and slept heavily through the night. In the morning he left
the islet once more to scout in the direction of the Indian camp, but he
found it a most dangerous task. The woods were full of warriors hunting.
As he had judged, the game was abundant, and he heard rifles cracking
in several directions. He loitered, therefore, in the thickest of the
thickets, willing to wait until night came for his enterprise. It was
advisable, moreover, to wait, because he did not see yet just how he was
going to succeed. He spent nearly the whole day shifting here and there
through the forest, but late in the afternoon, as the Indians yet seemed
so numerous in the woods, he concluded to go back toward the islet.

He was about two miles from the swamp when he heard a cry, sharp but
distant. It was that of the savages, and Henry instinctively divined the
cause. A party of the warriors had come somehow upon his trail, and they
would surely follow it. It was a mischance that he had not expected.
He waited a minute or two, and then heard the cry again, but nearer.
He knew that it would come no more, but it confirmed him in his first
opinion.

Henry had little fear of being caught, as the islet was so securely
hidden, but he did not wish to take even a remote chance of its
discovery. Hence he ran to the eastward of it, intending as the darkness
came, hiding his trail, to double back and regain the hut.

He proceeded at a long, easy gait, his mind not troubled by the pursuit.
It was to him merely an incident that should be ended as soon as
possible, annoying perhaps, but easily cured. So he swung lightly along,
stopping at intervals among the bushes to see if any of the warriors had
drawn near, but he detected nothing. Now and then he looked up to the
sky, willing that night should end this matter quickly and peacefully.

His wish seemed near fulfillment. An uncommonly brilliant sun was
setting. The whole west was a sea of red and yellow fire, but in the
east the forest was already sinking into the dark. He turned now, and
went back toward the west on a line parallel with the pursuit, but much
closer to the swamp. The dusk thickened rapidly. The sun dropped over
the curve of the world, and the vast complex maze of trunks and boughs
melted into a solid black wall. The incident of the pursuit was over and
with it its petty ann