n to those whose lives are spent in countries where human
habitation is sparse--where the work of man is lost in the immensity of
Nature's effort. He could see no sign of the girl. And yet he knew she
could not be far away. His instincts told him to search for her horse
tracks. He was sure she had passed that way. While yet he was thinking,
she suddenly reappeared over the brow of a further hill. She halted at
the summit, and, seeing him, waved a summons. Her gesticulations were
excited and he hastened to obey. Down into the intervening valley his
horse plunged with headlong recklessness. At the bottom there was a
hard, beaten track. Almost unconsciously he allowed his beast to adopt
it. It wound round and upwards, at the base of the hill on which Jacky
was waiting for him. He passed the bend, then, with a desperate,
backward heave of the body, he "yanked" his horse short up, throwing the
eager animal on to its haunches.

He had pulled up on what, at first appeared to be the brink of a
precipice, and what in reality was a declivity, down which only the slow
and sure foot of a steer or broncho might safely tread. He sat aghast at
his narrow escape. Then, turning at the sound of a voice behind him, he
found that Jacky had come down from the hill above.

"See, Bill," she cried, as she drew abreast of his hard-breathing horse,
"there he is! Down there, peacefully, grazing."

Her excitement was intense, and the hand with which she pointed shook
like an aspen. Her agitation was incomprehensible to the man. He looked
down. Hitherto he had seen little beyond the brink at which he had come
to such a sudden stand. But now, as he gazed down, he beheld a deep
dark-shadowed valley, far-reaching and sombre. From their present
position its full extent was beyond the range of vision, but sufficient
was to be seen to realize that here was one of those vast hiding-places
only to be found in lands where Nature's fanciful mood has induced the
mighty upheaval of the world's greatest mountain ranges. On the far side
of the deep, sombre vale a towering craig rose wall-like, sheer up,
overshadowing the soft, green pasture deep down at the bottom of the
yawning gulch. Dense patches of dark, relentless pinewoods lined its
base, and, over all, in spite of the broad daylight, a peculiar shadow,
as of evening, added mystery to the haunting view.

It was some seconds before the man was able to distinguish the tiny
object which had roused the girl