ie with an angry start. He
shuddered that he could have harboured the thought for a moment.

The eastern horizon was beginning to glow with the dawn. He rose,
walked to the summit, and sat down on the pile of stones that marked
the grave of Professor Mitchell. He watched in silence until he saw the
sun's red rim suddenly leap above the blue-black peaks of the east and
drive the last shadow of the night from the valleys below. With their
fading mists he felt the darkness lift from his own heart and the
sunlight of reason stream in. A new joy welled up from the depths of
his spirit. He was alive to his finger tips and his imagination glowed
with the consciousness that life was strong and clean, and worth while.

"With the help of God I'll keep it so, too!" he cried. "I'm ready for
the fight now. Let it come."

He knew instinctively that it was coming. He felt it in every word that
had fallen from Nan's lips since they left on this trip. He felt it
most keenly of all when she was silent, read it in the tremour of her
mouth, the shadowy tenderness of her eyes, the low, deep tones of her
voice. What he couldn't know was how hard that fight was going to be!

Both Nan and the youngsters slept like children until nine o'clock. He
helped the guides prepare breakfast without waking the sleepers and
called them at nine.

By ten o'clock breakfast was over, the guides had formed two exploring
parties and set out with the young people chattering and laughing.
"We'll keep house, Jim, here in God's palace among the clouds, until
they return."

"Yes," he answered, cheerily, "and it will be fun to keep it alone,
won't it, with no restraints or studied pretense, no crowd of fools or
liveried flunkies near at hand; only these big dark balsams for
sentinels."

They sat down on the ledge of rock which formed their cave-house and
gazed over the marvellous panorama of a world transformed into blue
billowy mountains, flying clouds and turquoise skies. Over it all
brooded the deep solemn silence of eternity. Not a sound reached the
ear from earth or air. Far up in the sky an eagle poised and looked
below in silence. Not a house could be seen as far as the eye could
reach; only here and there a white patch on the dark blue mountain-side
showed like a farmer's scar that hadn't healed. These were the fields
of farmers on the lower ranges, but their houses were hidden among the
trees.

Nan was leaning back on her elbow on the blanket Stuar