Her body ached when she awoke, and she was numb with cold and greatly fatigued. She could not bring herself to rise. Lying on her stomach, she looked to the side with weary eyes; she wondered why the men had not found her. They must have seen her tumble into the ditch.        What she did not know was that the ditch was so steep that no one could reach the bottom except by falling. When the men had reached the edge, they could not see down into the ravine, for the snow was falling thickly, and she was hidden by many bushes. They gave up the search and traveled back to the city, thinking that no girl would be able to withstand the fall and survive the cold.       The girl shivered; a breeze had started and was stirring the branches. She realized that she could not lie there for ever. She painfully brought herself to her knees. Her neck was stiff, and she was bruised and scratched by thorns. She breathed deeply. The air was suffused with pine and snow. Dragging herself to her feet, she tumbled down again. She could not stand. Her left ankle was badly sprained. She took off her boot.       The ankle was swollen and burned. She took out a kerchief that was in her pocket, wrapped the injured ankle and tied her shoelaces tightly.       Just as she was finishing, she heard heavy footfalls, the one noise that was the most dreaded to her ears. She heard twigs breaking. The movement was coming from the east down the ravine. She was shaking.No time was allowed her, so she drew her hood over her face and sat motionless. Just as she did this, a tall figure stepped out from behind a tree.      He held a gun. He started down at her with clear stern eyes. The girl who trembled before now was frozen with sweat on her brow. He stepped forward. His clothing was soaked; his hair was awry and matted to his face. The girl did not look up.      “You know that this is secret ground?” he said.      The girl said nothing and looked no farther than his boots.        “Have you no words to speak?”        “None to a stranger.”        “Your words cause suspiciousness,” he replied.         With the coming of those words, the girl shot up such an angry glance that the man stepped back a few paces.   She jumped to her feet and started to run away, but collapsed with a stifled scream.       The girl’s face was white with pain now. She clenched her teeth and fist.  He came slowly towards her and knelt down.       “Adelaide?” he said gently with something in his voice that showed regret.       He had used her name. She looked into his face without fear in her heart.       “Lawrence!” she cried, flinging herself into her brother’s arms.       “Your ankle pains you,” said Lawrence, placing his hands on her shoulders. “What aid have you done for it?”        “None satisfactory,” she said. “I wrapped my kerchief round it.”        “Take this and bandage it tightly,” he said, handing her a thick kerchief. “We must away from here with great haste. I heard voices none to long ago.”         He stood up. Night was showing its approach. The clouds were hovering like a roof of smoke and held the dreariness of elongated days. He paced around uneasily. Time was pressing.       “The ravine has a path running steeply up the south side. We need to reach it and continue out of the forest. It will be scoured in a few hours,” said Lawrence, kneeling down again.       “I have finished,” Adelaide said, looking up, showing a determined but worn glance.           Their route was easy enough to find, but perilous. Their breath came in quiet panting, and they continually had to brush aside branches. The two of them would not have been recognizable to those who searched for them. Lawrence appeared to be a man rather than a youth, with his face pale and worn and his steps heavy falling. Adelaide’s raven hair was tousled and flung over her shoulder. Her face white and her upper lip cut.      At last they clambered out of the ravine. As Lawrence was just reaching down to help Adelaide, a gun shot.