It was a cool crisp day. There had been a light dusting of snow the night before. Not far into the woods, Mike discovered fresh deer tracks and excitedly began to follow them. But as the morning wore on, the sun melted the snow and he lost the trail. Finally resigned to going home without a deer, he started back, planning to take the road. It was nowhere in sight, and he quickly realized that he was lost.

By his watch, it was already 1 p.m., and Mike had promised to be back at the cabin by noon. He began shouting, hoping that by this time his friends were out looking for him. After another hour of futile walking and calling out every few minutes with no response, he became frightened. He was exhausted and very hungry. He sat down under a tree to think. The forest was unnaturally quiet. There were no sounds, not even a bird chirping in the distance. Utterly dejected, Mike did something he had seldom done. He began to pray.

As he did, there was suddenly a crackling in the bushes. He looked up to see a young woman standing before him. Dressed in a long coat, knitted cap, and mittens, the woman smiled at Mike and asked him what he was doing down on the ground. When he explained, she assured him that she would lead him to safety. Her father owned a farm not far from there, she said, and she was well acquainted with the woods. Before long they were in sight of the road. Now knowing his way back to the cabin, Mike thanked the woman profusely. She smiled at him again.

And then she began to disappear.

First, the woman's image seemed blurred and soon he could see right through her. Then she was gone completely.

Mike rushed along the road and back to the safety of the cabin. His friends had just returned from searching for him. They said they weren't sure whether to rejoice because he was back and safe or be angry for the trouble he had caused them. By this time, all three were very tired and it was too late to be back home before dark, so they decided to stay one more night and leave early the next morning. Since all of their gear had already been packed, they agreed to go into the nearby town and have supper in a restaurant. There they could call home to their wives and explain the delay.

After their meal, they stopped in a local bar for beer. Feeling quite comfortable now, Mike told about the girl who had saved his life and how she had vanished before his eyes. His friends stared at him in disbelief. He hadn't had enough beer yet to be intoxicated, and they began to wonder if Mike's mind had been affected by his ordeal in the forest. But the bartender, who had been listening to the story, wasn't at all surprised.

"That was Leona," he said. "Her family used to have a farm back in there, though they're all gone now." He said Leona had been shot nearly 50 years before by a hunter who mistook her for a deer. Since then, her ghost had helped several people find their way out of the woods.