"It is enough, for the present, that we trusted to an Indian guide to take us by a nearer, though blinder path, and that we are deceived in his knowledge.
"I should like to look at the creature'; if it is a true Iroquois I can tell him by his knavish look, and by his paint," said the scout; stepping past the charger of Heyward, and entering the path behind the mare of the singing master, whose foal had taken advantage of the halt to exact the maternal contribution.
"What makes you think that?" I asked, "since these footmarks are not continued on the path?"
"Look!" continued the young reporter, showing us the ground where it had been disturbed by big and heavy heels; "the man seated himself there, and took off his hobnailed boots, which he had worn only for the purpose of misleading detection, and then no doubt, taking them away with him, he stood up in his own boots, and quietly and slowly regained the high road, holding his bicycle in his hand, for he could not venture to ride it on this rough path. That accounts for the lightness of the impression made by the wheels along it, in spite of the softness of the ground.
"Far off there, beside the sun, is the Fire-Spirits' home; and the only path is up, through cloud and mist.
Soon the cold vapors vanished from her path, and sunshine shone upon her pleasantly; so she went gayly on, till she came up among the stars, where many new, strange sights were to be seen.
"If he isn't out in a quarter of an hour the path will be covered.
Then he came swiftly along the path, passed close to where we lay, and went on up the long slope behind us.
I could not move swiftly over the rough, broken ground, but as I looked round me in despair I saw a well-marked, hard-beaten path which ran across in front of me.
From then onwards he had hunted by sight, for the path showed him where I had gone.
The thought of Miss Robinson close behind us gave wings to my feet, and, casting my dignity, of which, indeed, there was but little left, to the winds, I fairly flew down the
path. The little girl was not to be outrun, and though she panted and turned weird colours, kept by my side and even talked.
"Excuse me," called the Sawhorse, "the
path has ended and I'd like to know which way to go."
Lured by the flowers and the shade and charmed by the songs of birds which invited to woodland
paths and green fields, his imagination fired by glimpses of golden domes and glittering palaces in the distance on either hand, the Young Politician said:
Indeed, Dorothy wondered at first why the Wheelers did not roll up this
path; but when she followed it to the foot of the mound she found that several big pieces of rock had been placed directly across the end of the way, thus preventing any one outside from seeing it and also preventing the Wheelers from using it to climb up the mound.
Back and forth, back and forth, between Pollyanna and the side
path he vibrated, barking and whining pitifully.
