,
from each of which ran the narrow path of the buffalo. The line of
hills, silver-washed and black-caverned, was like a rampart thrown
across the entrance to the land of mystery, and they like the pygmy men
of fairyland come to gain an entry. It was David who thought of this.
It reminded him of Jack and the Beanstalk, where Jack, reaching the top
of the vine, found himself in a strange country. Susan did not
remember much about Jack. She was engrossed in recognizing the ravine,
scanning the darkling hollows for the dwarf tree.

It was a steep, winding cut, the tree, halfway up its length, spreading
skeleton arms against a sky clear as a blue diamond. They turned into
it and began a scrambling ascent, the horses' hoofs slipping into the
gutter that the buffaloes had trodden out. It was black dark in the
depths with the moonlight slanting white on the walls.

"We're going now to find the giants," David called over his shoulder.
"Doesn't this seem as if it ought to lead us up right in front of
Blunderbore's Castle?"

"The buffalo runs are like trenches," she answered. "If you don't look
out your horse may fall."

They tied their horses to the tree and climbed on foot to the levels
above. On the earth's floor, unbroken by tree or elevation, there was
not a shadow. It lay silver frosted in the foreground, darkening as it
receded. In the arch above no cloud filmed the clearness, the moon,
huge and mottled, dominating the sky. The silence was penetrating; not
a breath or sound disturbed it. It was the night of the primitive
world, which stirred the savage to a sense of the infinite and made
him, from shell or clay or stone, carve out a God.

Without speaking they walked forward to a jutting point and looked down
on the river. The current sparkled like a dancer's veil spread on the
grass. They could not hear its murmur or see the shifting disturbance
of its shallows, only received the larger impression of the flat,
gleaming tide split by the black shapes of islands. David pointed to
the two sparks of the camp fires.

"See, they're looking after us as if they were alive and knew they
mustn't lose sight of us."

"They look quite red in the moonlight," she answered, interested.

"As if they belonged to man and a drop of human blood had colored them."

"What a queer idea. Let's walk on along the bluffs."

They turned and moved away from the lights, slipping down into the
darkness of the channeled ravine