longer rigidly drawn down in anger, but relaxed by sleep on her white
teeth.

With the lithe, soft tread that was habitual to him, the young man moved
about, examining the condition of the little chamber and its stock
of provisions and necessaries, and withdrew presently, to reappear as
noiselessly with a tin bucket of water. This done, he replenished the
little pile of fuel with an armful of bark and pine cones, cast an
approving glance about him, which included the sleeper, and silently
departed.

It was night when she awoke. She was surrounded by a profound darkness,
except where the shaft-like opening made a nebulous mist in the corner
of her wooden cavern. Providentially she struggled back to consciousness
slowly, so that the solitude and silence came upon her gradually, with
a growing realization of the events of the past twenty-four hours, but
without a shock. She was alone here, but safe still, and every hour
added to her chances of ultimate escape. She remembered to have seen a
candle among the articles on the shelf, and she began to grope her way
towards the matches. Suddenly she stopped. What was that panting?

Was it her own breathing, quickened with a sudden nameless terror? or
was there something outside? Her heart seemed to stop beating while
she listened. Yes! it was a panting outside--a panting now increased,
multiplied, redoubled, mixed with the sounds of rustling, tearing,
craunching, and occasionally a quick, impatient snarl. She crept on
her hands and knees to the opening and looked out. At first the ground
seemed to be undulating between her and the opposite tree. But a second
glance showed her the black and gray, bristling, tossing backs of
tumbling beasts of prey, charging the carcass of the bear that lay at