or he come to join him? Or--

He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike
the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his
own, and narrower. Neither Wabi nor Mukoki wore shoes that would make
that trail!

At this point the strange trail had turned and disappeared among the
rocks along the wall of the mountain, and it occurred to Rod that
perhaps the stranger had not discovered his presence in the chasm. There
was some consolation in this thought, but it was doomed to quick
disappointment. Very cautiously the youth advanced, his rifle held in
readiness and his eyes searching every place of concealment ahead of
him. A hundred yards farther on the stranger had stopped, and from the
way in which the snow was packed Rod knew that he had stood in a
listening and watchful attitude for some time. From this point the trail
took another turn and came down until, from behind a huge rock, the
stranger had cautiously peered out upon the path made by the white
youth.

It was evident that he was extremely anxious to prevent the discovery of
his own trail, for now the mysterious spy threaded his way behind rocks
until he had again come to the shelter of the mountain wall.

Rod was perplexed. He realized the peril of his dilemma, and yet he knew
not what course to take to evade it. He had little doubt that the trail
was made by one of the treacherous Woongas, and that the Indian not only
knew of his presence, but was somewhere in the rocks ahead of him,
perhaps even now waiting behind some ambuscade to shoot him. Should he
follow the trail, or would it be safer to steal along among the rocks of
the opposite wall of the chasm?

He had decided upon the latter course when his eyes caught a narrow
horizontal slit cleaving the face of the mountain on his left, toward
which the snow-shoe tracks seemed to lead. With his rifle ready for
instant use the youth slowly approached the fissure, and was surprised
to find that it was a complete break in the wall of rock, not more than
four feet wide, and continuing on a steady incline to the summit of the
ridge. At the mouth of this fissure his mysterious watcher had taken off
his snow-shoes and Rod could see where he had climbed up the narrow exit
from the chasm.

With a profound sense of relief the young hunter hurried along the base
of the mountain, keeping well within its shelter so that eyes that might
be spying from above could not see hi