He was worried to find his boots lying at the cabin door; the children playing on the woodpile told him that "mither" said they were so heavy she couldn't walk in them, and she had come back and taken them off.

Thoroughly frightened, he stopped only long enough to slip them on, and then sped with all his strength for the Limberlost.

To the west, the long, black, hard-beaten trail lay clear; but far up the east side, straight across the path, he could see what was certainly a limp, brown figure.

Freckles spun with all his might.
Face down, Sarah Duncan lay across the trail.

When Freckles turned her over, his blood chilled at the look of horror settled on her face.