will of this
strange hunter, that he felt much more like a captive in the grip of a
mighty jailer than an invalid in the arms of his nurse.

"I fear there are," said March, as a rude motion of the horse caused him
excruciating agony.

"Very likely," replied the other--not by any means in a careless,
indifferent way, but with the air and tone of a straightforward man
giving his opinion in reference to a matter of fact. "But," he added in
a consolatory tone, "I'll see when we get home."

"Home!" repeated March. "Why, where _is_ your home?"

"In the mountains here. We're about there now." As he spoke, the
hunter turned his horse sharp to the left and entered a still more
narrow and gloomy defile than the one they had just been ascending. So
narrow was it, and overshadowed by high precipitous cliffs, that the
light of day had to struggle for entrance even at noontide. At night it
was dark as Erebus. The horse had considerable difficulty in advancing.
Indeed no horse that had not been trained to pick its steps among the
confused masses of rock and debris that formed the bottom of that ravine
or chasm, could have ascended it at all. But the fine animal which bore
March and the Wild Man of the West seemed to act more like a human being
than a horse in winding out and in among the intricacies of the place.

At length they reached the upper end of the gorge. Here the cliffs,
which rose perpendicularly to a height of three or four hundred feet,
drew so near to each other that at one place they were not more than
three yards asunder. Just beyond this point they receded again and
terminated abruptly in a sort of circle or amphitheatre, the floor of
which could not have been more than thirty yards in diameter, and was
covered with small gravel; the sides were quite perpendicular, and rose
so high that on looking up one felt as if one had got into the bottom of
a natural tunnel, at the top of which a round bit of bright blue sky
sent down a few scanty rays of light.

In spite of the pain it caused him, March raised his head and looked
round as they rode into this gloomy cavernous place. Then, glancing at
the face of the strange being who carried him, a feeling of
superstitious dread took possession of his heart for a moment, as he
remembered the many conversations he and Bounce had had about evil
spirits appearing in human form, and he thought that perhaps he had
actually fallen into the hands of one. But the grave