Page:Ruth of the U.S.A. (IA ruthofusa00balm).pdf/314

 captive; he passed upon a path far below without even looking up to where she hid in the trees. Nevertheless Ruth fled farther about the mountain before she dared rest again.

At nightfall she was awake and during the first hours of blackness she forced her way on in spite of the dismaying difficulties of wood travel in the dark. She fell repeatedly, even when she ventured upon a path, or she bruised herself upon boughs and stumbled into thickets. But she did not give up until the conviction came to her that she was hopelessly lost.

At best, she had been proceeding but blunderingly, attempting no particular course; merely endeavoring to keep to a definite direction. But now she did not know whether she had worked west of Lauengratz or had circled it to the east or south. She was cold, too; and hungry and quite exhausted. Twice she had crossed tiny brooks—or else the same brook twice—and she had cupped her hands to drink; thus, with nothing more than the cold mountain water to restore her, she lay down at last in a little hollow and slept.

The morning light gave her view over strange valleys with all the hills and mountain tops in new configuration. She stood up, stiff, and bruised, and weak; taking her direction from the sun, she started west, encountering cleared ground soon and a well-traveled road, which she dared not cross in the daylight. So she followed it north until a meeting road, with its cleared ground, halted her. At first she determined to wait until dark; but after a few hours of frightened waiting she risked the crossing in daylight and fled into the farther woods unseen. Again