Page:Taylor - In the Dwellings of the Wilderness.djvu/135

 a thing or two. And I shouldn't have spoken as I did yesterday. I ought to have remembered." Suddenly he struck one fist into the palm of his open hand. "Oh, it's impossible!" he cried harshly. "Nothing so hellish could happen! He must be around somewhere; surely we'll overtake him in a couple of miles! I wish to Heaven we'd never set eyes on this cursed place!"

Two hours later Deane and his party started. Deane, the last to leave, came to Merritt and held out his hand.

"Good-bye," he said. "Will you run up a flag on the tallest pole on the highest mound, and leave it there until we get back?"

Merritt's hand gripped his hard.

"Aye," he said. "I'll do it. God