swallowed in a
cup-like hollow; then, surmounting a ridge, they would have a brief
glimpse of the distant river behind. It was only when they reached the
top that, looking back over the turbulent rounded masses of earth, they
were able to comprehend the great height to which they had climbed.

Reaching level ground, Gene with a shout set off at a lope in a bee line
across the prairie; and Garth bringing up the packhorses in the rear,
caused the sedate Emmy to put her best foot foremost. Meanwhile, with
pocket-compass and memorandum book, he made notes of the route they
took; and when opportunity offered tied a strip of white cotton to a
bush. It was his intention to dismiss Gene before coming to Mabyn's hut;
and he wished to be sure of the way back. The guide, comprehending what
he was doing, gave him to understand that Emmy could bring them back
over their own tracks--unless snow should fall. But Garth was neglecting
no precautions.

Garth and Natalie deplored to each other the inadequacy of their means
of communication with their guide. The bright-eyed Gene had a hundred
things to point out to them on the prairie, most of which they could
only guess at. For one thing, he made them understand he was following
in the tracks of two cayuses that had gone that way three days before.
One was lame, he said, and the other dragged a travoise. All this he
learned from certain marks in the grass, which the other two could not
see at all. In all ways Gene proved himself a very pearl among guides.
Garth, merely from watching him, learned as much trail-craft these two
days as he had picked up during the weeks preceding; and Natalie
confessed that his cooking put her utterly to shame.

Such was the energy of their pace that they reached the last waterhole
before coming to Clearwater Lake early next afternoon. Here Garth
decided to camp; for he had determined with Natalie to time their
arrival at Mabyn's hut for the morning; so that after the briefest stay,
they could immediately start back. Clearwater Lake was only three miles
distant; and Gene was able to point out a poplar bluff marking the rise
behind which it lay.

Neither Garth nor Natalie obtained much sleep that night; only Gene,
wrapped in his rabbit-skin robe beyond the fire, slept the sleep of the
savage or the child. They were all astir at dawn; and after eating, they
parted; Gene careering south without a care on his mind; while Garth and
Natalie turned their apprehe