CHAPTER EIGHT.
Not until he had covered at least a quarter of a mile did Neewa stop.
To Miki it seemed as though they had come suddenly out of day into the gloom of evening.

That part of the forest into which Neewa's flight had led them was like a vast, mysterious cavern.

Even Challoner would have paused there, awed by the grandeur of its silence, held spellbound by the enigmatical whispers that made up its only sound.

The sun was still high in the heavens, but not a ray of it penetrated the dense green canopy of spruce and balsam that hung like a wall over the heads of Miki and Neewa.

About them was no bush, no undergrowth; under their feet was not a flower or a spear of grass.