Castro had decamped, taking my horse with him, but he was captured at a neighboring settlement a week later.
Scarface recovered from his burns and was handed over to the sheriff, who put him where he was not likely to injure any person for some time to come.
My escape that night was truly a providential one. The crafty Apache had been stealing without a sound down the broad chimney, when the little spark that was smouldering for hours burst into a blaze at just the right moment, for if Scarface had gained the interior of the cabin this story would probably have never been written.
A DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST
By EVELYN RAYMOND
CHAPTER XI
Departure
SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.
Brought up in the forests of northern Maine, and seeing few persons excepting her uncle and Angelique, the Indian housekeeper, Margot Romeyn knows little of life beyond the deep hemlocks. Naturally observant, she is encouraged in her out-of-door studies by her uncle, at one time a college professor. Through her woodland instincts, she and her uncle are enabled to save the life of Adrian Wadislaw, a youth who, lost and almost overcome with hunger, has been wandering in the neighboring forest. To Margot the new friend is a welcome addition to her small circle of acquaintances, and after his rapid recovery she takes great delight in showing him the many wonders of the forest about her home. Many weeks later, in one of their conversations, a remark from Adrian causes Margot to question her uncle as to her father’s whereabouts. It is just this knowledge that her guardian, knowing it to be best, has so carefully kept from her. Fearing that Adrian’s presence might, in some way, increase the girl’s interest in her father, he puts the matter before the young man. It is then decided that it were better for Adrian to take his departure.
BUT Adrian need not have dreaded the interview to which his host had summoned him. Mr. Dutton’s face was a little graver than usual, but his manner was even more kind. He was a man to whom justice seemed the highest good, who had himself suffered most bitterly from injustice. He was forcing himself to be perfectly fair with the lad, and it was even with a smile that he motioned toward a chair opposite himself. The chair stood in the direct light of the lamp, but Adrian did not notice that.