with the distance, made it impossible for
Upton to see his features clearly, but somehow he received an unshakable
conviction that it was an Indian or a half-breed. A rifle leaned against
the tree and doubtless it was the glint of the sun on its polished
surface that had produced the mysterious flashes that had first caught
his attention.

"He's watching to see if I go back to the cabin," thought Walter. "If he
doesn't see me by the time the others return he'll smell a rat. There's
nothing more to be gained by staying here. I've proved that we are being
watched, and that's all I can do. It's up to me to get back and tell the
others."

Cautiously the boy retreated through the thicket until he was below the
cap of the ridge. Then he hurried, running when he could and finding it
less difficult than he had imagined. He crossed above the head of the
draw and went on until he had reached a point which he judged must be
about opposite to where he had left his rifle in the hollow tree. His
first impulse had been to keep on until he could come out directly in
the rear of the cabin, but on second thought he had decided that it
would be wiser to return by the same way that he had left and get his
rifle. If he had been seen leaving the cabin with his rifle it would
look odd, to say the least, if he should be seen returning without it.

In climbing the ridge he had zigzagged back and forth, picking the
easiest grade, but now he was too impatient for so slow a method of
descent and plunged straight down, slipping, sliding, checking himself
by catching at trees and brush, getting a fall now and then as the web
of his shoes caught in a stick, but on the whole doing very well. One
thing he had not considered as he should have--the possibility of
slipping over an unseen ledge. It was brought home to him when he
brought a rather long slide to an abrupt end by catching a tree on the
very edge of a sheer drop of perhaps eight feet.

"Phew!" he gasped. "A little more and I'd have gone over that and had a
nasty tumble. Been the same way if it had been a fifty foot ledge. I
see where little Walter will be turning up missing one of these days if
he doesn't look out. It's a poor scout who takes needless chances in
territory he isn't familiar with. I'll be more careful hereafter."

He peered over the edge of the ledge. Below the snow had drifted deep
and it was clear. The ledge ran east and west for some distance, and to
make a detour would