night, and shivering with cold she looked helplessly to find some
refuge. Close to the water's edge grew an enormous yellow-wood tree,
and to this she staggered--thinking to climb it, and seek shelter in its
boughs where, as she hoped, she would be safe from wild beasts. Again
fortune befriended her, for at a distance of a few feet from the ground
there was a great hole in the tree which, she discovered, was hollow.
Into this hole she crept, taking her chance of its being the home of
snakes or other evil creatures, to find that the interior was wide and
warm. It was dry also, for at the bottom of the cavity lay a foot or
more of rotten tinder and moss brought there by rats or birds. Upon this
tinder she lay down, and covering herself with the moss and leaves soon
sank into sleep or stupor.

How long Nanea slept she did not know, but at length she was awakened by
a sound as of guttural human voices talking in a language that she could
not understand. Rising to her knees she peered out of the hole in the
tree. It was night, but the stars shone brilliantly, and their light
fell upon an open circle of ground close by the edge of the river. In
this circle there burned a great fire, and at a little distance from the
fire were gathered eight or ten horrible-looking beings, who appeared to
be rejoicing over something that lay upon the ground. They were small in
stature, men and women together, but no children, and all of them were
nearly naked. Their hair was long and thin, growing down almost to the
eyes, their jaws and teeth protruded and the girth of their black bodies
was out of all proportion to their height. In their hands they held
sticks with sharp stones lashed on to them, or rude hatchet-like knives
of the same material.

Now Nanea's heart shrank within her, and she nearly fainted with fear,
for she knew that she was in the haunted forest, and without a doubt