where the wall circled to meet the cliff on the
left, forming an oval depression, the nature of which he could not
ascertain. But it appeared to be a small opening surrounded by dense
thickets and the overhanging walls. Anxiety augmented to alarm. He
might not be able to find a place to scale those rough cliffs.
Breathing hard, Jean halted again. The situation was growing critical
again. His physical condition was worse. Loss of sleep and rest, lack
of food, the long pursuit of Queen, the wound in his arm, and the
desperate run for his life--these had weakened him to the extent that
if he undertook any strenuous effort he would fail. His cunning
weighed all chances.

The shade of wall and foliage above, and another jumble of ruined
cliff, hindered his survey of the ground ahead, and he almost stumbled
upon a cabin, hidden on three sides, with a small, bare clearing in
front. It was an old, ramshackle structure like others he had run
across in the canons. Cautiously he approached and peeped around the
corner. At first swift glance it had all the appearance of long disuse.
But Jean had no time for another look. A clip-clop of trotting horses
on hard ground brought the same pell-mell rush of sensations that had
driven him to wild flight scarcely an hour past. His body jerked with
its instinctive impulse, then quivered with his restraint. To turn
back would be risky, to run ahead would be fatal, to hide was his one
hope. No covert behind! And the clip-clop of hoofs sounded closer.
One moment longer Jean held mastery over his instincts of
self-preservation. To keep from running was almost impossible. It was
the sheer primitive animal sense to escape. He drove it back and
glided along the front of the cabin.

Here he saw that the cabin adjoined another. Reaching the door, he was
about to peep in when the thud of hoofs and voices close at hand
transfixed him with a grim certainty that he had not an instant to
lose. Through the thin, black-streaked line of trees he saw moving red
objects. Horses! He must run. Passing the door, his keen nose caught
a musty, woody odor and the tail of his eye saw bare dirt floor. This
cabin was unused. He halted-gave a quick look back. And the first
thing his eye fell upon was a ladder, right inside the door, against
the wall. He looked up. It led to a loft that, dark and gloomy,
stretched halfway across the cabin. An irresistible impulse drove
Jean. Slipping inside, he