ther thought all the wolves and wildcats were
gone, he hadn't seen any in years, but every once in a while some one
said they had, and he was not quite sure yet. And that wasn't the
beginning of it. Paddy Ryan had come back from the war wrong in his
head. He wore his old army overcoat summer and winter, slept on the
ground, and ate whatever he could find. Once Laddie and Leon, hunting
squirrels to make broth for mother on one of her bad days, saw him in
our Big Woods and he was eating SNAKES. If I found Pat Ryan eating a
snake, it would frighten me so I would stand still and let him eat me,
if he wanted to, and perhaps he wasn't too crazy to see how plump I
was. I seemed to see swarthy, dark faces, big, sleek cats dropping
from limbs, and Paddy Ryan's matted gray hair, the flying rags of the
old blue coat, and a snake in his hands. Laddie was slipping the
letter into my apron pocket. My knees threatened to let me down.

"Must I lift the leaves and hunt for her, or will she come to me?" I
wavered.

"That's the biggest secret of all," said Laddie. "Since the Princess
entered them, our woods are Enchanted, and there is no telling what
wonderful things may happen any minute. One of them is this: whenever
the Princess comes there, she grows in size until she is as big as, say
our Sally, and she fills all the place with glory, until you are so
blinded you scarcely can see her face."

"What is she like, Laddie?" I questioned, so filled with awe and
interest, that fear was forgotten.

"She is taller than Sally," said Laddie. "Her face is oval, and her
cheeks are bright. Her eyes are big moonlit pools of darkness, and
silken curls fall over her shoulders. One hair is strong enough for a
lifeline that will draw a drowning man ashore, or strangle an unhappy
one. But you will not see her. I'm purposely sending you early, so
you can do what you are told and come back to me before she even
reaches the woods."

"What am I to do, Laddie?"

"You must put one hand in your apron pocket and take the letter in it,
and as long as you hold it tight, nothing in the world can hurt you.
Go out our lane to the Big Woods, climb the gate and walk straight back
the wagon road to the water. When you reach that, you must turn to
your right and go toward Hoods' until you come to the pawpaw thicket.
Go around that, look ahead, and you'll see the biggest beech tree you
ever saw. You know a beech, don't you?"

"Of course I do," I