“No!” Bracknell laughed hoarsely. “He’s a tiger, for certain. Though I will own he didn’t look it when he was here the other day.” He was silent for a moment, then he said slowly, “Of course if we decide to leave the cabin and if we go North, we may stumble on my Cousin Roger. It’s only a chance, but——” He broke off again, and looked at Joy as if wondering how she would take the suggestion, then added, “Well, we might take it, if we can manage to get away from here. What do you think?”
Joy hesitated. Her face flushed a little, then she said quietly, “I put myself in your hands.”
“Thank you. I am——”
A fit of coughing broke in on his speech, and when it had passed he did not attempt to complete his sentence, but as his eyes from time to time fell on her there was a soft glow in them, which revealed an unspoken gratitude.
They sat for a long time discussing the desperate situation, and late in the afternoon prepared for departure. Such food as the cabin held was made up in three packs, and when that was done, and all was ready, they rested, waiting for the hour of departure, Joy reflecting on the strange irony of circumstances which now made her dependent for help on the man who had so wronged her, and of whom she had lived in fear.
All was quiet outside and Babette was offering a tentative suggestion that perhaps after all the enemy outside had withdrawn, then again they caught the crunch! crunch! of cautious feet on the frozen snow, and as all three grew alert, they heard the steps pause by the door, and the next moment there was a rustling sound on the rough woodwork.
“Somebody feeling for the latch-string,” whispered Bracknell, then he hailed the intruder, as the latter having found the string thrust a heavy shoulder against the barred door. “Hallo! Who goes there?”
To this challenge there was no reply, but a second or two later they again heard the steps receding across the snow.
“Came to make sure we were still here,” commented Bracknell in a low voice, “and whoever he was he has made a bee line from the door. That means that the camp they’re sitting in is somewhere in front; and in all probability they’ve forgotten the window at the back, or as it’s blocked with snow haven’t noticed it. We shall be able to quit that way.”
They waited a little time longer, and then removed the moose hide from the window and very cautiously began to cut away the snow with which it had been blocked. That done they listened. No sound whatever was to be heard. Bracknell put out his head and peered into the darkness. There was nothing visible save the foreground of snow and the shadowy background of the forest. He climbed out, and very cautiously crept to the corner of the cabin to reconnoitre. In the shadow of the trees on the other side of the creek he caught the glow of a fire and discerned three men sitting round it. At that sight he crept back, and, whispering to the two girls to be very careful, assisted them out of the narrow window. Then without pausing they stole quietly across to the shadow of the sheltering woods.