Evening star., 1920-11-21

before he realized that the tracks o
the men no longer led him on. !
patch of mud across the road gav'
OF imprints.
| He turned and worked patientl,
| back, watching to see where the mel
had left the road. He found no trace
and came to the bridge and crossed it
lend pusbed on along his own bacl
I, trail. Fifty yards beyond the bridg'
he picked UP the tracks of the mel
again. He nodded as though at SOM
}secret satisfaction, and he turne'
iRgain and followed them inch by inch
bending low to discover the fain
marks in the way
! He followed them to the bridge, and
searched there; and SO he marked a
last where a rotting board had beer
freshly broken of by some weigh
I upon it's upstream end. And then h
iknew-the nAn had climbed dowr
into the brook.
whiesher h nas swamp Severeheiess Il, E,
knew well enough the lay of the land
Sebacook pond, at the head of th'
swamp. was no great way abov'
where he stood. This brook-it was
a wide, shallow, slow moving bit oi
main outlet of the pond: though the
ponds waters, seeping down the val
iley. flooded the whole swamp al
times. The brook would lead him to
the pond; the men must have headed
| that way. He stepped down off the
the knees in the soft bottom, felt the
" ater rise about his thighs. and he
gan to wade upstream.
EOR the m Dat part the brook wa.
shallow. and it was reasonably
easy to make progress. But now ant
then. in q deep pool, Andy dipped to
his waist. He Was wet enough be-
fore: this did not disturb him. ile
scarce knew it, The boy was becom-
ing possessed with . fixed idea: he
did not know that he was tired. that
his face was black with mud and
streaked with blood from the wound
on his head, He only knew that shere
were men ahead. that he meant te
A few rods down brook from the
pond there is a wide. pool in the brook
Andy was following. whore fshermen
sometimes take trout Of a quite sur
prising size. -
When Andy reached this pool be
saw on the bank an abandoned fish
ing pole. which had. been been cut
In the swamp and thrown aside here
when the fishermen departed. II
must haze been a dozen feet Ions,
and strong, The sight of il angxest-
ed TO Andy that he might need u
weapon; he STOPPED and dreW oue hts
knife and cut off thrse-foot length
Of the butt, =.
1t had satisfactory heft when he
tried il in his hand he struck OF
presently. upen its marshy shorc.
Sim hidden hx the bushes. he stop
ped to survey the land,
Sebacook pond 10 considerable
body OF water, but at its lower end
strip. with mush bottom and =
prodigal growth of pond lilies upon,
its surface Andy, from his point OF
vieN could see up this channel ana
out into the open pond: he could see
the wooded shore on the other siae.
behind. hut his attention was con-
centrated closer ~ hand.
He looked along tho shore TO the
right as far as the point that cut on
his view. and disoovered nothing: ne
turned his eyes to the left. his glance
sweeping the bushes; ,,sre the
lake widened. an alder on the shore
was disturbed. II shook in way not
habitual to alders. Andy eyes
fastened on 1t, and he caught
glimpse. dimly, through the nrancn-
es. OF a man.
The man rounded the point out OF
sight, following the lake shore: Anoy
gripped his stick thought tlen.er;
broke out Of his hiding, ana starteo
in that directiop on a run.
The shores Of sebacook are @ nos
casy travelling. When Andy Droke
through tho fringe of bushes ABOUT
the mouth Of the brook he came 70
a short strip Of sand. deep ana dry
through which he pfowed ankle deep.
Then the woods shut down to the very
waters edge, and the roots OF the
trees dipped into the pond ITSELF.
They were buttressed with bowlders.
larre and small. banked there
through the centuries as an endur-
ing wall against the play Oh the the
narrow. slanting strip Of bowlders as
we'll as he could. There were times
when he went into the water to ms
knees: there were other times wneh
tangle Of fallen stumps forced him 20
circle into the woods ana return 10
the shore beyond them.
plain sight from the cottages across
the lake. and men remarked MIN
there, They saw that he was run
ming, and watched with certain
curiosity. Some one launched boat.
But the lake was long mile wide.
enjoyed the beauty Of the spot and OF
the day. The air was still. some OF
the damp Of early morning still
The lake was placid as q sheet Of
silver; and beyeaA the lake the hills