There was a heavy crashing in the undergrowth and a deer, wild with alarm,
darting within a dozen feet of Dick, disappeared in the forest, running
madly.

He knew there were many deer in the Mississippi woods, but he was
observant and the flight aroused his attention. His first thought that
he and his horse had scared the deer could not be true, because it had
come from a point directly behind and had rushed past them. Then its
alarm must have been caused by some other human being near by in the
forest or by a panther. His theory inclined to the human being.

Dick was troubled. The more he thought of the incident the less he liked
it. He made no effort to hide from himself the dangers that surrounded
him in the land of the enemy, and remounting he rode briskly forward.
As the ground was firm and the forest was free enough from undergrowth to
permit of speed he finally broke into a gallop which he maintained for a
half-hour.

He struck marsh again and was a long time in passing through it. But
when he was a half-mile on the other side he drew into a dense cluster of
bushes and waited. He could not get the flight of the deer out of his
mind, and knowing that it was well in the wilderness to obey premonitions
he watched more closely.

Dick sat on his horse behind the bush a full five minutes, and presently
he became conscious that his heart was pounding heavily. He exerted his
will and called himself foolish, but in vain. The flight of the deer
persisted in his mind. It was a warning that somebody else was in the
woods not far behind him, and, while he waited, he saw a shadow among the
trees.