The next day would settle his doubts.

The Girl?
What would he find?
He went to sleep late and awoke with the summer dawn.
The stream grew narrower and the country wilder as he progressed.

It was noon when Baree stopped dead in his tracks, stiff-legged, the bristles of his spine erect, a low and ominous growl in his throat.

He was standing over a patch of white sand no larger than a blanket.
"What is it, boy ?" asked David.
He went to him casually, and stood for a moment at the edge of the sand without looking down, lighting his pipe.
"What is it ?" The next moment his heart seemed rising up into his throat.

He had been expecting what his eyes looked upon now, and he had been watching for it, but he had not anticipated such a tremendous shock.