n-pitch of rocks that comes dangerously close to
the perpendicular; he walks securely along a crumbling ledge with half
his body over a thousand yards of emptiness. Therefore the prospectors
with their burros have combed the worst mountains of the West and it
was hardly a surprise to Kate Barry when she saw two men come down the
steepest slope above the cabin with two little pack animals scrambling
and sliding before them. It was still some time before nightfall, but
the sun had dropped out of sight fully an hour ago and now the western
mountains were blackening against a sky whose thin, clear blue grew
yellow towards evening.

Against that dark mass of the mountainside, she could not make out the
two travelers clearly, so she shaded her eyes and peered up, high up.
The slope was so sheer that if one of the four figures lost footing it
would come crashing to her very feet. When they saw her and shouted down
the sound fell as clearly as if they had called from the cabin, yet they
had a good half hour's labor between that greeting and the moment they
came out on the level before Kate. From the instant they called she
remained in motionless, deep thought, and when they came now into full
view, she cried out joyously: "Buck, oh Buck!" and ran towards them.
Even the burros stopped and the men stood statue-like; it is rarely
enough that one finds a human being in those mountains, almost an act
of Providence that lead to a house, and a miracle when the trail crosses
the path of a friend. The prospectors came out of their daze with a
shout and rushed to meet her. Each of them had her by a hand, wringing
it; they talked all together in a storm of words.

"Kate, I'm dreamin'!--Dear old Buck!--Have you forgotten me?--Lee
Haines! I should say not.--Don't pay any attention to him. Five
years. And I've been hungerin' to see you all that--.--Where have you
been?--Everywhere! but this is the best thing I've seen.--Come in.--Wait
till we get these packs off the poor little devils.--Oh, I'm so glad to
see you; so glad!--Hurry up, Lee. Your fingers asleep?--How long have
you been out?--Five months.--Then you're hungry.--We've just ate.--But a
piece of pie?--pie? I've been dreamin' of pie!"

A fire already burned in the big living-room of the cabin, for at this
season, at such an altitude, the shadows were always cold, and around
the fire they gathered, each of the men with half a huge pie before him.
They were such as one might expect t