Yet the possibility of danger to him now for a moment marred her present happiness and security.

"You think the fire will not go north of where you found me ?" she asked softly.
"I think not," he said; "but I will reconnoitre.

Stay where you are." They pressed hands and parted.

He leaped upon the slanting trunk and ascended it rapidly.

She waited in mute expectation.
There was a sudden movement of the root on which she sat, a deafening crash, and she was thrown forward on her face.
The vast bulk of the leaning tree, dislodged from its aerial support by the gradual sapping of the spring at its roots, or by the crumbling of the bark from the heat, had slipped, made a half revolution, and, falling, overbore the lesser trees in its path, and tore, in its resistless momentum, a broad opening to the underbrush.
With a cry to Low, Teresa staggered to her feet.