istol at full cock and safe, then followed him. The
ascent stiffened abruptly, then ended, so that they came out on a
wooded plateau a half-mile square in the center of which the crest of
the mountain reared in a last upheave of perfect cone several hundred
feet high. Skirting the edge of the cone they emerged from the woods
and came to the border of a village.

The Major paused at the edge of the clearing, congratulating himself
upon the wonderful good fortune that had brought him safely among the
Hill People, and studying the village. A large number of crude
thatched huts had been erected scatteringly at the bases of the trees
surrounding the level clearing. Not a soul was in sight except the
young warrior who had acted as his guide, who stood in front of a
shack somewhat larger and better built than its neighbors.

As the Major stepped into the clearing he saw a figure appear at the
door, and his sturdy heart lodged in his throat as he leaped forward.

It was Terry.

They met in the center of the clearing near the smoldering cooking
fire, their hands gripping hard. Their eyes were moist with the relief
each found in the other's safety. Both struggled for apt expression of
their pentup emotions.

The Major found his tongue first.

"Well, it's fine air up here," he offered.

"Ayeh." Terry's grin was uncertain. "And there's so much of it!"

And they shook hands on it, complacently.

CHAPTER XIII

THE HILL PEOPLE

Occasionally one passes a stranger on the street whose face bears the
unmistakable imprint of recent pain, a patient line of mouth and
haunting glow of eyes that have looked close into the eternal shadows.
Terry bore this look.

He unbuckled the Major's pack straps and relieving him of the load led
him into the shack he occupied. It was a small hut, roofed and sided
with grass woven into a bamboo lattice work; stilted six feet above
the ground it trembled under the Major's heavy tread. A woven bamboo
partition divided it into two small halves, and each room was bare
save for a slatted cot that served as chair by day and couch by night.
The breeze blew up through the strips of bamboo flooring.

Exhausted the Major sank down upon the hard cot but rose to sitting
posture to study Terry with bloodshot eyes.

"Terry," he said, "you're looking a little--what the folks back home
call 'peaked'."

Terry's face was a little haggard, his body a little slimmer, the
steady gray eyes were deeper s