An axe seemed a likely weapon, so, picking it up, I
slid into the bushes at the point where Sami had come out of them.
Perfect serenity was there! The afternoon light lay golden on the
moss above the fallen trees. No hidden scurrying in the underbrush
told of wild, wood things hastening to safety from some half-sensed
danger. No broken branches or trampled earth told of any past or
present struggle. There was no trace of any fearsome creature having
passed along that peaceful trail.
I searched thoroughly and found nothing. On my way back to the
clearing I met Li Ho.
'"Find anything, Li Ho?" I asked eagerly.
The Celestial grinned.
"Find honorable self," said he. "Missy she send. Missy heap scared
along of you."
"Nonsense!" I said. "I can take care of myself. Even if it had been
a bear, I had an axe."
"Bear!" said Li Ho. And then he laughed. Did you ever hear a
Chinaman laugh? I never had. Not this Chinaman anyway. It was so
startling that I forgot what I was saying. Next moment I could have
sworn that he had not laughed at all.
We found Sami, much comforted, sitting upon Desire's lap, a thing he
could seldom be induced to do. At our entrance he began to shiver
again but soon quieted. Desire had tried questioning but it was of
no use. He either couldn't, or wouldn't, say anything about what had
frightened him. Desire was inclined to think that he did not know.
But I was not so sure. It's a fairly well established fact that
children simply can't speak of certain terrors.
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