that seemed to isolate those who might
live down there and shut them out as though theirs was another world.

He touched his horse's flanks, and, with careful, stilted steps, the
animal began the descent. And now he speculated as to the whereabouts
of the ranch, for he knew that this was the Mosquito River, and
somewhere upon its banks stood his future home. As he thought of this
he laughed. His future home; well, judging by what he had been told,
it would certainly possess the charm of novelty.

He was forced to give up further speculation for a while. The trail
descended so sharply that his horse had to sidle down it, and the
loose shingle under its feet set it sliding and slipping dangerously.

In a quarter of an hour he drew up on the river bank and looked about
him. Whither? That was the question. He was at four crossroads. East
and west, along the river bank; and north and south, the way he had
come and across the water.

Along the bank the woods were thick and dark, and the trail split them
like the aisle of an aged Gothic church. The surface of red sand was
hard, but there were marks of traffic upon it. Then he looked across
the river at the distant rolling plains.

"Of course," he said aloud. "Who's going to build a ranch on this
side? Where could the cattle run?"

And he put his horse at the water and waded across without further
hesitation. Beyond the river the road bent away sharply to the right,
and cut through a wide avenue of enormous pine trees, and along this
he bustled his horse. Half a mile further on the avenue widened. The
solemn depths about him lightened, and patches of sunlight shone down
into them and lit up the matted underlay of rotting cones and
pine-needles which covered the earth.

The road bent sharply away from the river, revealing a scrub of low
bush decorated with a collection of white garments, evidently set out
to dry. His horse shied at the unusual sight, and furthermore took
exception to the raucous sound of a man's voice chanting a dismal
melody, somewhere away down by the river on his right.

In this direction he observed a cattle-path. And the sight of it
suggested ascertaining the identity of the doleful minstrel. No doubt
this man could give him the information he needed. He turned off the
road and plunged into scrub. And at the river bank he came upon a
curious scene. There was a sandy break in the bush, and the bank
sloped gradually to the water's edge. Three or four