ranch house which she first remembered; but that brought her back to her father; and he had wished to speak to Barney Loutrelle. She thought of her visit in Chicago, reviewing little, personal details,—the dance to which Bennet had taken her, the talk of her aunt Myra's friends, and her own reading aloud of Les Miserables to her uncle Lucas. But that brought her back to St. Florentin again.
Toward morning, the new moon stood in the cold sky; and when she saw its light, she thought of going out then. But she did not. She waited until dawn was spreading over the eastern sky before she went downstairs, carrying her shoes; she put them on and found her skis. The dogs roused and danced about her; she took them out with her and made for the lake.
The light had strengthened sufficiently to show her the gaunt outlines of Resurrection Rock, white and lifeless above the lake ice. When she glanced back toward St. Florentin, she saw that some one was following her from her grandfather's house, a man who must be Kincheloe. He did not motion to her or try to hail her; he merely followed. And suddenly she changed her plan and swung from the direct line to the shore and cut into the woods to the little clearing where Asa Redbird lived.
He possessed a little, two-roomed cabin of rough boards covered with builder's paper and with a sheet-iron stovepipe protruding through the roof. The door was closed and the windows were dark, and only such smoke rose from the pipe as the smoldering embers of the night fire would give; so she knew that Asa was not yet awake. But her approach with Lad and Lass stirred the Indian's dogs; and bedlam broke loose in the little cabin as she came up.
