“P’raps thim tracks there was made fornenst the night, and that it’s ourselves that was not here first.”

“Don’t yer s’pose I know all about that?” demanded the trapper, savagely.  “Them tracks was made not more’n three or four hours ago.”

As he spoke.  Tim turned and followed it a rod or two, and then, as he came back, said: 

“If I had the time I’d foller it; but it goes just t’other way from what I want to go.  I think like ’nough it leads to the village that you want to find; so if yer’d like one of ’em to introduce yer to the rest on ’em, drive ahead and make his acquaintance.  Maybe he kin tell yer something about the gal.”

Teddy determined to follow the trail by all means.  He partook of the morning meal with the trapper, exchanged a pleasant farewell, and then the two parted never to meet again.

The footprints were distinct and easily followed.  Teddy advanced with long, loping strides, at a gait considerably more rapid than his usual one.  He indulged in curious reveries as he followed it, fancying it to be an unfriendly Indian with whom a desperate collision must inevitably take place, or some friendly member of the tribe, of whom the trapper had told him, that would prove a boon companion to him.  All at once he reached a small, marshy tract, where the trail was much more palpable; and it was here that he either saw or fancied the toes of the footprints turned outward, thus demonstrating that, instead of an Indian, he was following a white man.

The Hibernian’s heart throbbed at the thought that he was upon the track of the strange hunter, with all probability of overtaking him.  It caused his heart to throb violently to reflect how close he was upon the critical moment.  Drawing a deep breath and closing his lips tightly, he pressed on ready for the conflict.

The trail continued as distinct as ever, and the pursuit suffered no interruption until it entered a deep swamp into which Teddy hesitated to enter, its appearance was so dark and forbidding.  As he gazed into its gloomy depths, he was almost certain that he had discovered the home of the hunter.  That at that moment the criminal was within its confines, where perhaps the beloved Cora was imprisoned, a miserable and pining captive.  The thought maddened him, and he pressed forward so rashly that he soon found himself completely entrapped in a network of briers and brambles.  Carefully withdrawing into the open wood, it suddenly occurred to him, that if the hunter had passed through the thicket, there was no earthly necessity of his doing it.  He could pass around, and, if the footprints were seen upon the opposite side, it only remained to follow them, while, if they were not visible, it certified that he was still within the thicket and he could therefore shape his actions accordingly.

Teddy therefore made his way with patience and care around one end of the thicket.  He found the distance more considerable than he at first supposed.  It was full an hour before he was fairly upon the opposite side.  Here he made a careful search and was soon rewarded by finding unmistakable footprints, so that he considered it settled that the hunter had passed straight through the thicket.