mplete darkness and silence again followed.
Presently the first speaker continued:--

"I reckon we'll have to wait here till the next squall clears away the
scud from the sky? Hello! What's that?"

Out of the obscurity before them appeared a faint light,--a dim but
perfectly defined square of radiance,--which, however, did not appear
to illuminate anything around it. Suddenly it disappeared.

"That's a house--it's a light in a window," said the second voice.

"House be d--d!" retorted the first speaker. "A house with a window on
Galloper's Ridge, fifteen miles from anywhere? You're crazy!"

Nevertheless, from the muffled plunging and tinkling that followed,
they seemed to be moving in the direction where the light had appeared.
Then there was a pause.

"There's nothing but a rocky outcrop here, where a house couldn't
stand, and we're off the trail again," said the first speaker
impatiently.

"Stop!--there it is again!"

The same square of light appeared once more, but the horsemen had
evidently diverged in the darkness, for it seemed to be in a different
direction. But it was more distinct, and as they gazed a shadow
appeared upon its radiant surface--the profile of a human face. Then
the light suddenly went out, and the face vanished with it.

"It IS a window, and there was some one behind it," said the second
speaker emphatically.

"It was a woman's face," said the pleasant voice.

"Whoever it is, just hail them, so that we can get our bearings. Sing
out! All together!"

The three voices rose in a prolonged shout, in which, however, the
distinguishing quality of the pleasant voice was sustained. But there
was no response from the darkness beyond. The shouting was repeated
after an interval with the same result: the silence and obscurity
remained unchanged.

"Let's get out of this," said the first speaker angrily; "house or no
house, man or woman, we're not wanted, and we'll make nothing waltzing
round here!"

"Hush!" said the second voice. "Sh-h! Listen."

The leaves of the nearest trees were trilling audibly. Then came a
sudden gust that swept the fronds of the taller ferns into their faces,
and laid the thin, lithe whips of alder over their horses' flanks
sharply. It was followed by the distant sea-like roaring of the
mountain-side.

"That's a little more like it!" said the first speaker joyfully.
"Another blow like that and we're all right. And look! there's a
lightenin' up over