"A hand-writing expert!" gasped the girl. "Does that mean he could copy a signature?"
"Perfectly," replied Cora, "but how you tremble? What is it now?"
"Girl! girl!" she gasped. "What that may mean to us! Oh, I must find father! He will know. I must signal to him."
"Please do not to-night," begged Cora, fearing a new collapse from the excitement. "Wait until daylight. Here, now we shall get our food."
They were within the pine hut and had lighted a lantern. A loaf of bread and some salt meat were easy to find in the rudely-made box that served for a closet.
"I am actually starved," Cora remarked, with an effort to be pleasant. "I guess your pine trees make one hungry."
"Hark!" breathed Laurel. "I heard a step!"
The next moment Cora stood at the entrance to the hut, and waited. The step was coming closer and closer! And it was plainly that of a man!
"Oh, what can it be?" gasped Laurel. "Or who is it?"
"I—I don't know," whispered Cora, her voice trembling in spite of herself. "But we must be brave, Laurel, brave."