The moment that I stopped running about so aimlessly the panicky feeling
left me. I remembered that for a ranger to be lost in the forest was an
every-day affair, and the sooner I began that part of my education the
better. Then it came to me how foolish I had been to get alarmed, when I
knew that the general slope of the forest led down to the open country.

This put an entirely different light upon the matter. I still had some
fears that I might not soon find Dick Leslie, but these I dismissed for the
present, at least. A suitable place to camp for the night must be found. I
led the mustang down into the hollows, keeping my eye sharp for grass.
Presently I came to a place that was wet and soggy at the bottom, and,
following this up for quite a way, I found plenty of grass and a pool of
clear water.

Often as I had made camp back in the woods of Pennsylvania, the doing of it
now was new. For this was not play; it was the real thing, and it made the
old camping seem tame. I took the saddle off Hal and tied him with my
lasso, making as long a halter as possible. Slipping the pack from the pony
was an easier task than the getting it back again was likely to prove. Next
I broke open a box of cartridges and loaded the Winchester. My revolver was
already loaded, and hung on my belt. Remembering Dick's letters about the
bears and mountain-lions in Penetier Forest, I got a good deal of comfort
out of my weapons. Then I built a fire, and while my supper was cooking I
scraped up a mass of pine-needles for a bed. Never had I sat down to a meal
with such a sense of strange enjoyment.

But when I had finished and had everything packed away and covered, my mind
began to wander in unexpected directions. Why was it that the twilight
seemed to move under the giant pines and creep down the hollow? While I
gazed the gray shadows deepened to black, and night came suddenly. My