This was done and Velveteens seemed more at ease, though Bruin kept up a fearful growling in his prison, tearing at the logs and snapping at his chain. Old Pegs went out on a scout, taking his new friend with him, and leaving Dave with Myrtle. I don’t know how it was done, but before half an hour had passed the two had forgotten their little “tiff” of the morning and were sitting side by side, hand clasped in hand, as only lovers sit, while through the chinks in the walls of the prison Rafe Norris glared at them. “How long must I wait for revenge?” he muttered. “Oh, I will make him repent in dust and ashes the hour he led me, bound like a dog, into her presence. And you, proud rustic beauty, shall know what it is to scorn the love of such a man as I!” Old Pegs very wisely kept out of the way for over two hours. Those hours were hours of agony to Rafe Norris. To see the woman he loved sitting with her head upon the bosom of the man he hated, while his strong arm encircled her slender waist, was torture. If his hands had been free, and he could have reached a weapon, that moment had been death, perhaps to both the lovers. Old Pegs came back at last, and announced that they had seen no signs of Indians, and had reason to believe that they had decamped entirely. He found the young couple very much engaged over a book which Dave had brought from the fort, and grinned widely as he saw the trouble was over. Dave had begged her forgiveness but a moment before, and she had sealed it with a loving kiss. “Hev you looked at the pris’ner while I’ve been gone?” demanded Old Pegs. Dave looked a trifle foolish, for, if the truth must be told, he had forgotten that such a person as Rafe Norris existed. Old Pegs laughed and opened the door of the room, where he saw Rafe extended on the floor, apparently asleep. Velveteens looked over his shoulder, as he did so. “He’s a desprut mean cuss, _that_, I’ll bet on,” he said. “D’ye mean to stand guard all night?” “No; he kain’t git away.” “Then I wish ye’d show a place to sleep, fur I’m ’most mortal tired. I’ve hed a hard time, lately.” The hunter gave the man a blanket, and he wrapped it about him and lay down on the floor, quite near the door of the room in which Rafe Norris was confined. The lovers paid but little attention to him and sat, until quite late, talking in low tones, which he could not hear if he had been inclined to do so. Old Pegs stepped into a sort of alcove in one corner, and, satisfied that all was safe, soon fell asleep. Some hours after, Dave came in to share his blanket, while Myrtle went into the curtained recess where she slept. Two hours later, Velveteens, who had been not only asleep but snoring, raised his head softly and looked about him. The moon was shining brightly, and he could see every object in the room distinctly.