The road led from the cedar-dotted uplands into a valley of spruce. Logs covered with green moss and moulding yellow leaves lay tangled in the undergrowth. In the trees chickadees fluted and chirped, and a hen partridge scuttled across the road with her tiny yellow brood. Raphael politely said ‘Good-morning,’ but they only fluttered and stared at him out of brown, curious eyes. [Illustration: ‘DOES THAT ROAD LEAD TO MECHANA?’] Raphael ran on. Half an hour later, as he turned a sharp corner in the road, he nearly stumbled over a large black bear and her cub. The bear rose on her hind legs, her ears laid flat and the lips of her tan muzzle drawn back showing large white teeth. Raphael stopped. ‘Good-morning,’ he said as pleasantly as he could, though his voice shook. The bear dropped back to the road with a soft thud. ‘Who are you?’ she grunted. ‘I am Raphael,’ he replied, ‘Commander of the Elements under Gæa, the Earth Mother.’ By this time the cub had ambled forward to inspect this strange creature dressed in black feathers who smelt so queerly. ‘You are welcome then,’ growled the bear surlily, and she sat back on her furry rump showing the leather soles of her hind feet. ‘It will be a hot day.’ Raphael seated himself on a dry log at the side of the road. ‘It is going to be a hot day,’ he repeated. ‘How far is it to Mechana, the city of the Sorcerer?’ ‘What Sorcerer?’ Then he told the bear about Mechanus, and how he had stolen his sister Cassandra. Meanwhile the cub snuffled about Raphael’s feet until, becoming bored, he ambled off to root in a rotten tree for grubs. When Raphael stopped talking, the she bear said: ‘I have heard of this Sorcerer. It is said that he is like a man, and that there is a city a long way to the west. But life is hard in the woods. I find it difficult enough to feed my children, and so I do not bother about what does not concern me.’ ‘But that’s just it,’ argued Raphael. ‘It does concern you. To-day you have a forest to live in and pools to drink from. But to-morrow the Sorcerer may cut down this forest, the pools will dry, the berries will disappear; you will find nothing to feed on, and then how will your children live?’ [Illustration: RAPHAEL SEATED HIMSELF ON A DRY LOG] The bear looked at him out of cunning little eyes. ‘When that time comes, I shall move elsewhere to other forests.’ And she wrinkled her long nose in a yawn. ‘I am sorry for your sister,’ she added. ‘I know how I should feel if a cub of mine were stolen. But, after all, life in the forest is one danger following another. We must eat. We must find food, and that is difficult enough. Meanwhile the Earth Mother who has always cared for us will look after her people. There is no use in worrying about to-morrow. For many years men have hunted us, and yet we live.’ Raphael muttered, ‘The Sorcerer will be more terrible than man.’