Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/202

 bloodshed. It was hard to believe that, only a few miles away, the dingy cabin clung to the  slope of Jasper Peak and within it Half-Breed  Jake and his Indian comrades were planning any  sort of violence that would lead to the ruin of  Oscar’s cherished scheme.

"It must be a mistake,” Hugh reflected almost aloud. “I believe I dreamed it. I don’t think  this adventure is real.”

He had crossed a little brook, in the late afternoon, and was climbing the long slope beyond it when he realized that he was thirsty and that the  route he was about to follow lay along the ridge,  high above any water for many miles.

“I am not much of a woodsman,” he told himself. “I should have remembered to drink when I could. It would be better to go back.”

Quickly he ran down the hill, making a good deal of noise as he crashed through the underbrush. He stooped long to drink at the edge of the pool and then stood up to continue his journey. He glanced across at his own trail coming down to the water’s edge on the other shore,