As he moved along, weary and worn, the memory of the horrid¹ fight he had seen by the camp fire, and especially the picture of those three stark², bloody³ forms that lay stretched upon the earth, seemingly watching every movement he made, followed and weighed him down like some smothering⁴ incubus⁵. Then he saw, more vividly⁶ than ever before, the mountainous task ahead. With no horse, and the hundreds of miles of mountain and prairie, with the dangers besetting⁷ him on every hand, what possible hope had he for believing he was ever to reach his destination? The gloom of the night, the shadow of what he had so recently witnessed, and his own exhausted⁸ condition, no doubt had much to do with the distress⁹; for his prospects¹⁰ were certainly as good as at morning, when he was so full of enthusiasm.  
"I can't travel any further," he finally exclaimed, "and what's the use? It won't do any good."
 
When he paused in his wearisome tramp, he happened to be close to a tree, quite lofty, with numerous limbs, some of which were quite near the ground. It struck him at once that it would be a good plan to climb into this, and ensconce himself among the branches. At any rate, he was certain to be out of the way of the crawling snakes, and no wild animal could steal upon him while he was unconscious.
 
Without pausing more than a moment to consider, he ascended¹¹ the tree, and, a short distance from the ground secured the very position he wanted. Here the limbs crossed and recrossed, and gnarled themselves in such a way, that the most pleasant kind of bed imaginable was found, and he stretched out his weary limbs upon it, thanking Heaven that had guided him to such a favorable place.
 
"I hope Lone¹³ Wolf won't be able to follow me here," was the wish he expressed, as he resigned himself to slumber¹⁴.
 
But gentle sleep had not yet closed his eyelids¹⁵ when he was alarmed by hearing something beneath him. His first supposition was that it was Lone Wolf, for the sound resembled the stealthy tread of some person upon the soft earth; but after listening a few minutes he became satisfied that it was some animal instead.
 
"It's a wolf or panther that has scented¹⁶ my trail," was his conclusion, as he leaned over and peered cautiously down among the branches.
 
The moon shone more brightly than upon any night since he had started, but the shadow of the trees themselves obscured his view so much that his vision was of little use to him. It seemed to him, however, when he looked downward in this fashion, that once or twice he caught sight of a shadowy creature, whisking back and forth¹⁷, leaping about like a dog, and apparently¹⁸ ready to make a bound upward among the branches.
 
But he could not make certain of what he saw, although there could be no doubt but that he heard something, and that some kind of a dangerous creature was close at hand.
 
"I guess he isn't going to hurt me," was his conclusion, after watching and listening a half hour, and after finding a heavy drowsiness¹⁹ was stealing over him. In this comfortable state of mind, he soon closed his eyes, and relapsed into a deep, refreshing²⁰ sleep, which lasted an hour or more, when it ended in a peculiar²¹ manner. Very few boys are apt to lie quiet in their beds, and Ned Chadmund, in turning over upon his side, turned completely out of bed, and dropped through the branches to the ground.
 
The fall was so slight that it did not hurt him, except in the disagreeable shock that was inevitable²². It flashed on him on the instant, and, recalling those stealthy footsteps that had so frightened him, he instantly sprang for the trunk, and began climbing with all the haste at his command. He was almost within reach of the limbs, when he heard a growl²³, and some denizen²⁴ of the forest came plunging²⁵ toward him.
 
With a thrill of terror, the lad made a tremendous effort, caught the limb with one hand, swung his leg over and drew himself up. As he did so, he felt distinctly the wind made by the body of the beast, as it leaped upward, and snapped with his huge

Join or Log In! You need to log in to continue reading

Create a new account   I have a account already

	Create an New Account
Email:  (User Name)
Password:	Letters and numbers only. 6-20 characters.
Retype Password:
Screen Name:	Letters and numbers only. 6-50 Characters.
Confirmation Code:	(Please type in the characters in the green image.)

	Login into Your Account
Email:
Password:
	Remember me on this computer.