Stepping softly, without the least sound, Dale entered this straggly bit of woods, which appeared to have narrow byways and nooks.

Then presently he came to the top of a well-wooded slope, dark as pitch, apparently.

But as Helen followed she perceived the trees, and they were thin dwarf spruce, partly dead.

The slope was soft and springy, easy to step upon without noise.

Dale went so cautiously that Helen could not hear him, and sometimes in the gloom she could not see him.