ight smart."

"How long has that blaze been there?" asked Hippy.

"An hour, mebby," replied Joe. "Come along, Henry."

A few strokes of her axe obliterated the arrow on the blaze, and the
party pressed on.

"I wonder if that arrow-blaze was intended for us," murmured Tom, as
they rode on in silence.

Soon, the guide's lamp revealed another blaze, but this was purely a
direction blaze, which she mutilated and changed to mean a different
direction, then made a sharp turn to the right. Other blazes
encountered, all freshly made, led them straight to the lumber road for
which she had been searching and would have missed had it not been for
the friendly blazes that pointed the way.

"What do ye 'low for that?" demanded the forest woman when they had
emerged on the road.

"I believe now that the blazes were intended for us," answered Tom, his
brow wrinkling in perplexity. "It is very strange."

"Why worry?" spoke up Hippy. "We are being led, but what's the odds who
is doing the leading so long as we are led?"

"Pure logic," observed Miss Briggs.

"From an illogical source," added Emma in an undertone.

They proceeded along the lumber road for fully ten miles, fording two
streams, then halting at a sawmill on the banks of a river. The mill had
not yet started operations. Tom got off and looked the property over,
consulted his map, then the journey was resumed. Just beyond the mill
they came upon another of the now familiar blazes, directing them to
proceed to the right and follow the river bank.

"The blazer fellow evidently knows where we wish to go. Do you know
where we are, Mrs. Shafto?" called Tom.

"Yes, I know now. It's the Little Big Branch River, though it ain't much
of a river yit. We got a long ways to go before we git to the place
where ye folks are goin' to hang out for a spell. I reckon we'd better
make camp just before daylight."

No one offered objection to her proposal. All were weary and cold, as
well as hungry and sleepy. Emma was swaying in her saddle, frequently
catching herself napping and straightening up just in time to prevent
falling from her horse, while the others, noses and lips blue, shivered
and made no effort to control the chattering of their teeth.

"Oh, why was I ever induced to leave my happy home?" wailed Anne. "This
is the worst of all."

Nothing more was heard from any of them until Joe Shafto finally
announced that they had reached the end of their night's journey.