_Bien_! We shall take Medaine, _oui_?
Yes ?" "I--I don't think she'd go." "Why not ?" "I'd rather--" Houston was thinking of a curt nod and averted eyes.
"Maybe we'd better just go alone, Ba'tiste." "_Tres bien_.

We shall go into the forest.

We shall learn much." And the next morning the old French-Canadian lived true to his promise.
Behind a plodding pair of horses hitched to a jolting wagon, they made the journey, far out across the hills and plateau flats from Tabernacle, gradually winding into a shallow canon which led to places which Houston remembered from years long gone.

Beside the road ran the rickety track which served as a spur from the main line of the railroad, five miles from camp,--the ties rotten, the plates loosened and the rails but faintly free from rust; silent testimony of the fact that cars traveled but seldom toward the market, that the hopes of distant years had not been fulfilled.

Ahead of them, a white-faced peak reared itself against the sky, as though a sentinel against further progress,--Bear Mountain, three miles beyond the farthest stretch of Empire Lake.