Since early morning he had eaten nothing and he began to feel the physical want in a craving that was becoming acutely uncomfortable.

If Obadiah had not returned to his home he made up his mind that he would find entrance to the cabin and help himself.

A sudden turn in the path which he was following, however, revealed one of the councilor's windows aglow with light, and as he pressed quietly around the end of the building the sound of a low voice came to him through the open door.

Cautiously he approached and peered in.

A large oil lamp, the light of which he had seen in the window, was burning on a table in the big room but the voice came from the little closet into which Obadiah had taken him the preceding night.