ded
who this strange being might possibly be. If it was the person
suspected, it was one whom he had met more frequently than he wished,
and he prayed that he might never encounter him again in this world.
The certainty that the man had dogged him to this remote spot in the
West; that he had patiently plodded after the travelers for many a day
and night; that even the trackless river had not sufficed to place
distance between them; that, undoubtedly, like some wild beast in his
lair, he had watched Richter and his companions as they sat or
slumbered near their camp-fire--these, we may well surmise, served to
render the missionary for the moment excessively uncomfortable, and to
dull the roseate hues in which he had drawn the future.

The termination of this train of thought was the sudden suspicion that
this very being was at that moment in close proximity. Unconsciously,
Harvey rose to the sitting position and looked around, half expecting
to descry the too well remembered figure.

"Supper is waiting, and so is our appetites, be the same token in your
stomachs that is in mine. How bees it with yourself, Mistress Cora?"

The young wife had risen to her feet, and the husband was in the act
of doing the same, when the sharp crack of a rifle broke the
stillness, and Harvey plainly heard and felt the whiz of the bullet as
it passed before his eyes.

"To the devil wid yer nonsense!" shouted Teddy, furiously springing
forward, and glaring around him in search of the author of the
well-nigh fatal shot. Deciding upon the quarter whence it came, he
seized his ever-ready rifle, which he had learned to manage with much
skill, dashed off at the top of his speed, not heeding the commands of
his master, nor the appeals of Mrs. Richter to return.

Guided only by his blind rage, it happened, in this instance, that the
Irishman proceeded directly toward the spot where the hunter had
concealed himself, and came so very near that the latter was compelled
to rise to his feet to escape being trampled upon. Teddy caught the
outlines of a tall form tearing hurriedly through the wood, as if in
terror of being caught, and he bent all his energies toward overtaking
him. The gloom of the night, that had now fairly descended, and the
peculiar topography of the ground, made it an exceedingly difficult
matter for both to keep their feet. The fugitive, catching in some
obstruction, was thrown flat upon his face, but quickly recovered
himself. T