Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/359

 half-breed knew he now had a foeman worthy of his cunning and would have hesitated to stalk his aged foe if not for the knowledge that the cruiser had no rifle. And following Abner’s example he gained the cover of the forest noiselessly.

Then commenced a strange game of hide and seek. Abner would not retreat in any straight line, as he knew he must keep from the other’s keen view. If exposed for only the fraction of a second he realized the half-breed would shoot, and shoot straight. Thus for nearly an hour he passed like a shadow from tree to tree, never seeing his pursuer and remaining unseen in turn. Yet each sensed the other’s presence and realized that at times they were near neighbors. The dripping of the rain, the croak of a frog in some nearby pool, the occasional note of some songster in the open, as the sun threatened to return and flood the wood and heights with warmth, were the only sounds to be heard in the narrow compass of their dodgings and twistings.

The one idea in Abner’s mind was to remain concealed till night should blanket his movements; then he must silently make his camp and warn the youths. On the other hand he was continually tormented by a fear that one of the