moose, walked for a full hour, seeing nothing living but the
woodpeckers and the chickadees, hearing nothing but the rustle of
the branches, as released of their loads they sprang back into
place. Then, quite needlessly, I found insecure footing under the
snow, and plunged suddenly at full length. My rifle whirled from my
hand with force, and I heard it strike against the uncovered top of
a sugar-loaf stone. I jumped up in fear and hastily examined it.
The breech was shattered--my rifle was as useless as any stick.

Now I thought of the catamount, as, with the broken rifle in my
hands, I looked about me in the woods, bright with sun and snow. I
was not entirely helpless, for my revolver and knife were in my
belt.

Yet a thirty-eight calibre revolver, even with a long cartridge and
a long barrel, is not a sure defence against an animal as heavy as
myself, which in facing me would present for a mark only a round
head and a chest with muscles so thick and knotty that they would
probably stop any revolver bullet. I doubted my ability to hit the
eye.

Very likely I was no longer followed; and in any case, I might call
Alaric. And yet he was too far away for a shout to reach him, and I
dared not fire signal-shots, for in order to travel light, I had
left at camp all revolver cartridges but those in the chambers.

So I started at once for the bottom of the valley, hoping to strike
Alaric's trail on the opposite slope, and intending to follow it
until I caught him.