How long she slept she did not know, but when she awoke it was light.
The fire had burned low, and she felt cold and numb.
Staggering to her feet, she looked around. The camp was deserted.
The men were gone, and so were the horses. Beside the fire was a
considerable pile of wood, and Stella hastily pulled the embers of the
fire together and threw several sticks upon it. As the fire blazed up
and she grew warmer, she tried to review the situation.
Why had the men who had captured and brought her thus far deserted her?
Had they been frightened away by the proximity of the boys? No, it could
not have been that, for the boys were far away.
Then a thought of horror flashed across her mind. She had been brought
here to perish in the wilderness. Probably Silver Face and his men,
desiring to wreak vengeance upon Ted, and feeling that keeping her a
prisoner would be too much of a burden, had brought her into this
dangerous place to leave her a prey to the wild animals that she knew
infested the forests.
If they had only left her Magpie, she might have stood some chance of
escaping.
But her fortitude soon returned to her. She was not dead yet, and, while
she had a fighting chance, she would not despair.
Something of pity must have moved the men, for she found that they had
left her revolver and her rifle beside her in the lean-to, and that in a
pile not far from the fire was food enough to last her for several
meals.
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