a deer, or
even a squirrel, but the animals themselves were likely to keep under
cover in such a rain. He expected a hard hunt, and it would be attended
also by much danger--these woods must be full of Indians--but he thought
little of the risk. His hunger was taking complete possession of his
mind. He was realizing now that one might want a thing so much that it
would drive away all other thoughts.

Rifle in hand, ready for any quick shot, he searched hour after hour
through the woods and thickets. He was wet, bedraggled, and as fierce
as a famishing panther, but neither skill nor instinct guided him to
anything. The rabbit hid in his burrow, the squirrel remained in his
hollow tree, and the deer did not leave his covert.

Henry could not well calculate the passage of time, it seemed so
fearfully long, and there was no one to tell him, but he judged that
it must be about noon, and his temper was becoming that of the famished
panther to which he likened himself. He paused and looked around the
circle of the dripping woods. He had retained his idea of direction and
he knew that he could go straight back to the hut in the swamp. But he
had no idea of returning now. A power that neither he nor anyone else
could resist was pushing him on his search.

Searching the gloomy horizon again, he saw against the dark sky a
thin and darker line that he knew to be smoke. He inferred, also, with
certainty, that it came from an Indian camp, and, without hesitation,
turned his course toward it. Indian camp though it might be, and
containing the deadliest of foes, he was glad to know something lived
beside himself in this wilderness.

He approached with great caution, and found his surmise to be correct.
Lying full length in a wet thicket he saw a party of about twenty
warriors-Mohawks he took them to be-in an oak opening. They had erected
bark shelters, they had good fires, and they were cooking. He saw them
roasting the strips over the coals-bear meat, venison, squirrel, rabbit,
bird-and the odor, so pleasant at other times, assailed his nostrils.
But it was now only a taunt and a torment. It aroused every possible
pang of hunger, and every one of them stabbed like a knife.

The warriors, so secure in their forest isolation, kept no sentinels,
and they were enjoying themselves like men who had everything they
wanted. Henry could hear them laughing and talking, and he watched them
as they ate strip after strip of the delicate, ten