Chapter 16
THROUGH THE NIGHT.The soft dusk of the night had fallen over the northern lands,
and the pale stars had gleamed for hours on the reflecting waves of
mountain streams. It was late—near midnight, for the waning sickle
of the moon was slipping from its dark cover in the east and
hanging like a jewel of gold just above the black crown of the
pines. Breaths from the heights sifted down through the vast woods,
carrying sometimes the dreary twitter of a bird disturbed, or the
mellow call of insects singing to each other of the summer night.
All sounds of the wilderness were as echoes of rest and utter
content.
And in the camp of the Twin Springs, shadows moved sometimes
with a silence that was scarce a discord in the wood songs of
repose. A camp fire glimmered faintly a li
