Once during her night vigils she was startled by the distant cry of some wild beast, but it came not near, and the morning found them both unharmed. Dividing with her little charge the corn bread and cold venison which had been procured at the wigwam, Orianna again set forward, leading Ella by the hand, and beguiling the hours in every possible way. The next night they passed in a wigwam, where dusky faces bent curiously above the “pale flower” as she slept, and where, next morning, in addition to the bountiful supply of corn cake and venison, a bunch of spring violets was presented to Ella by an Indian boy, who had gathered them expressly for the “white pappoose,” as he called her. Blest season of childhood, which gathers around it so many who are ready to smooth the rough places and pluck the sharp thorns which he so thickly scattered on life’s pathway! It was Ella’s talisman; for more than one tall Indian, on learning her history from Orianna, cheerfully lent a hand, and on his brawny shoulders carried her from the sun’s rising to its going down. With Ella for a companion, Orianna proceeded but slowly, and nearly three weeks were spent ere familiar way-marks told her that they were nearing Lexington. “In less than two days we shall be there,” she said to Ella, as at the close of one day they drew near that town. Lighter grew Ella’s footsteps, and brighter was her eye, while darker and deeper grew the shadows around poor Orianna. She was right in her calculations, for on the afternoon of the second day they struck into the narrow footpath which led to Deacon Wilder’s house, and which she and Charlie oft had trodden. Here for a time we will leave them, while in another chapter we will read what has taken place since we in the wilderness have been roaming. CHAPTER XIII. THE DEATH BED. Anxiously, as the sun was going down, did Mrs. Wilder watch from her window for the return of her daughter, and as the gray twilight deepened into night, and still she came not, the whole household was alarmed, and every house in the settlement was visited, to learn, if possible, some tidings of the wanderer. Some remembered having seen her enter the woods soon after dinner, but farther than that none could tell; and the loud, shrill cry of “Lost! Lost! A child lost in the woods!” echoed on the evening air, and brought from a distance many who joined in the unsuccessful search, which lasted all night. Morning came, and Mrs. Wilder, pale and distracted with grief, ran hither and thither, calling loudly for her lost darling. Three hours of the sun’s daily journey was accomplished, when a young Indian was seen to emerge from the woods, and rapidly approach the house of Capt. Wilder, where he communicated all he knew concerning Orianna, and ended his narrative by saying, “It will be useless to follow her.”