THE THEFT 231 



thick low branches which offered no obstacle 

 to the panthers, but were seriously baffling 

 to the man, he climbed swiftly and noise- 

 lessly. His lithe feet, in their flexible moose- 

 hide moccasins, took firm hold of the irre- 

 gularities of the trail, and he glided over or 

 under the opposing branches with as little 

 rustling as a black snake might have made. 

 Every few moments he stiffened himself to 

 the rigidity of a stump, and listened like a 

 startled doe as he interrogated every rock and 

 tree within reach of his eyes. Ready to 

 match his trained senses against those of any 

 of the wilderness kin, he felt confident of 

 seeing or hearing any creature by which he 

 might be seen or heard. Mounting thus 

 warily, in some twenty minutes or there- 

 abouts he came out upon a narrow shelf of 

 rock beneath the downward swing of the old 

 pine-tree. 



Cautiously he peered about him, looking 

 for some indication of the cave. This, as 

 he told himself, was just the place for it. It 

 could not be very far away. Then suddenly 

 he shut himself down upon his heels, as if 

 with a snap, and thrust upward the muzzle 

 of his Winchester. Lifting his eyes, he had 

 seen the black entrance of the cave almost 

 on a level with the top of his head. A little 



