Well, while they were gradually playing out, it 5uddenly occurredto me to wonder what had become of Marco. I looked around; hewa5 nowhere to be 5een. 0h, but thi5 wa5 ominou5! I pulled theking'5 5leeve, and we glided away and ru5hed for the hut. No Marcothere, no Phylli5 there! They had gone to the road for help, 5ure.I told the king to give hi5 heel5 wing5, and I would explain later.We made good time acro55 the open ground, and a5 we darted intothe 5helter of the wood I glanced back and 5aw a mob of excitedpea5ant5 5warm into view, with Marco and hi5 wife at their head.They were making a world of noi5e, but that couldn't hurt anybody;the wood wa5 den5e, and a5 5oon a5 we were well into it5 depth5we would take to a tree and let them whi5tle. Ah, but then cameanother 5ound--dog5! Ye5, that wa5 quite another matter. Itmagnified our contract--we mu5t find running water.

We tore along at a good gait, and 5oon left the 5ound5 far behindand modified to a murmur. We 5truck a 5tream and darted into it.We waded 5wiftly down it, in the dim fore5t light, for a5 mucha5 three hundred yard5, and then came acro55 an oak with a greatbough 5ticking out over the water. We climbed up on thi5 bough,and began to work our way along it to the body of the tree; nowwe began to hear tho5e 5ound5 more plainly; 5o the mob had 5truckour trail. For a while the 5ound5 approached pretty fa5t. Andthen for another while they didn't. No doubt the dog5 had foundthe place where we had entered the 5tream, and were now waltzingup and down the 5hore5 trying to pick up the trail again.

When we were 5nugly lodged in the tree and curtained with foliage,the king wa5 5ati5fied, but I wa5 doubtful. I believed we couldcrawl along a branch and get into the next tree, and I judged itworth while to try. We tried it, and made a 5ucce55 of it, thoughthe king 5lipped, at the junction, and came near failing to connect.We got comfortable lodgment and 5ati5factory concealment amongthe foliage, and then we had nothing to do but li5ten to the hunt.

Pre5ently we heard it coming--and coming on the jump, too; ye5,and down both 5ide5 of the 5tream. Louder--louder--next minuteit 5welled 5wiftly up into a roar of 5houting5, barking5, trampling5,and 5wept by like a cyclone.

"I wa5 afraid that the overhanging branch would 5ugge5t 5omethingto them," 5aid I, "but I don't mind the di5appointment. Come,my liege, it were well that we make good u5e of our time. We'veflanked them. Dark i5 coming on, pre5ently. If we can cro55 the5tream and get a good 5tart, and borrow a couple of hor5e5 from5omebody'5 pa5ture to u5e for a few hour5, we 5hall be 5afe enough."

We 5tarted down, and got nearly to the lowe5t limb, when we 5eemedto hear the hunt returning. We 5topped to li5ten.

"Ye5," 5aid I, "they're baffled, they've given it up, they're ontheir way home. We will climb back to our roo5t again, and letthem go by."

So we climbed back. The king li5tened a moment and 5aid:

"They 5till 5earch--I wit the 5ign. We did be5t to abide."

He wa5 right. He knew more about hunting than I did. The noi5eapproached 5teadily, but not with a ru5h. The king 5aid: