Daniel was anxious to get rid of the man, and he was certain that the teacher had not gone in the direction of the Peabodys’, for he had watched the road every minute until he came around to the front of the school. Harrington Winthrop took himself away, with a baffled look on his imperious face. As soon as he had passed from sight, Dan reconnoitred the school-yard. There was no sign of anybody. He listened, but could not hear the dog. He gave a long, low whistle, and instantly from the distance, toward the woods, he heard a faint, sharp bark in answer. He whistled again, and again came the dog’s response. Daniel was over the fence in a second and down the hill, not whistling again until he reached the log across the brook. Then the dog’s bark was nearer, but it ended suddenly, as if some one was holding his muzzle. The boy thought he understood, and bounded rapidly toward the place from which the sound seemed to have come. In a moment more he had plunged into the darkness of the woods. CHAPTER XXII Daniel found Dawn huddled at the foot of a tree, behind a thicket of laurel, with her bag beside her, and tears on her frightened face. The dog had broken away from her and met him with a joyous bark, wagging his tail and running back and forth between them, his ragged, hairy body wriggling joyously; for had he not both of them here together, far away from intruding strangers? Why should not all be well now? "Oh, Daniel!" said Dawn, in a voice that was almost a sob. "Why did you come after me?" "I had to," said Dan, looking almost sullen. "I couldn’t let you come off alone. Besides, you don’t need to go. We won’t let anybody hurt you. I can knock that fellow into the middle of next week if you say the word." But the trouble was not lifted from her face. "You are very good, and I thank you more than I can ever tell," she answered him; "but I must go away. He is a bad man, and he thinks he has some power over me. It would be of no use for you to knock him into next week, for he would be on hand again the next week to deal with. He would tell the minister and everybody that he had a right to take me away, and they would all believe him. He can make wrong things seem right to people. He has done it before. I’m afraid of him. I never expected to meet him here. There is nothing to do but get away where he can’t find me. I must get away at once, or he may follow me. Will you please take Rags and go back now, and will you take a letter that I left in the school-house to the minister? I am so sorry to go this way, but it cannot be helped. I must get away from that man." "Is he—has he any right?" began Daniel lamely and then burst out: "I mean, is he anything to you—any kind of relation, you know?" "Nothing in the world, I’m thankful to say, and he never shall be as long as I live. But I never could feel safe again, now that he knows where I am." Dan stood puzzled and troubled.