of haste, drawing farther from us through the hours, until by the next
afternoon somewhere we noticed they were no longer to be seen; and after
that they never came upon the trail again.

XXXIII. THE SPINSTER LOSES SOME SLEEP

Somewhere at the eastern base of the Tetons did those hoofprints
disappear into a mountain sanctuary where many crooked paths have led.
He that took another man's possessions, or he that took another man's
life, could always run here if the law or popular justice were too hot
at his heels. Steep ranges and forests walled him in from the world on
all four sides, almost without a break; and every entrance lay through
intricate solitudes. Snake River came into the place through canyons
and mournful pines and marshes, to the north, and went out at the south
between formidable chasms. Every tributary to this stream rose among
high peaks and ridges, and descended into the valley by well-nigh
impenetrable courses: Pacific Creek from Two Ocean Pass, Buffalo Fork
from no pass at all, Black Rock from the To-wo-ge-tee Pass--all these,
and many more, were the waters of loneliness, among whose thousand
hiding-places it was easy to be lost. Down in the bottom was a spread of
level land, broad and beautiful, with the blue and silver Tetons rising
from its chain of lakes to the west, and other heights presiding over
its other sides. And up and down and in and out of this hollow square of
mountains, where waters plentifully flowed, and game and natural pasture
abounded, there skulked a nomadic and distrustful population. This in
due time built cabins, took wives, begot children, and came to speak of
itself as "The honest settlers of Jackson's Hole." It is a commodious
title, and doubtless to-day more accurate than it was once.

Into this place the hoofprints disappeared. Not many cabins were yet
built there; but the unknown rider of the horse knew well that he would
find shelter and welcome among the felons of his stripe. Law and order
might guess his name correctly, but there was no next step, for lack of
evidence; and he would wait, whoever he was, until the rage of popular
justice, which had been pursuing him and his brother thieves, should
subside. Then, feeling his way gradually with prudence, he would let
himself be seen again.

And now, as mysteriously as he had melted away, rumor passed over the
country. No tongue seemed to be heard telling the first news; the news
was there, one day, a matter