e Little Giant, "an' I reckon we'd better stay here a
spell 'til everybody, men an' animals, git rested up a bit."

"You never spoke truer words, Tom Bent," said Boyd. "I can make out a
fairly level stretch of ground just ahead, and I'll lead the way to it."

They crouched there. "Crouch" is the only word that describes it, as the
horses and mules themselves sank down through weariness, and their
masters, too, were glad enough to lie on the earth and wait for their
strength to come back. Will's senses, despite his exhaustion, were
nevertheless acute. He heard a heavy, lumbering form shuffling through a
thicket, and he knew that it was an alarmed bear moving from the
vicinity of the intruders. He heard also the light tread of small
animals.

"I judge from these sounds," said Boyd, "that we must be on a sort of
plateau of some extent. If it was just a knife edge ridge between two
chasms you wouldn't find so many animals here. Maybe we'd better lay by
until day, or until it's light enough to see. In the dark we might
tumble into some place a thousand feet deep."

"What about the Sioux who were on the heights throwing down the rocks?"
asked Will. "Mightn't they come along the cliff and find us here?"

"No. The way may be so cut by dips and ravines that it's all but
impassable. The chances are a thousand to one in favor of it, as this is
one of the roughest countries in the world."

"A thousand to one is good enough for me," said Will, stretching himself
luxuriously on the ground. Presently he saw Boyd and Bent wrapping
themselves in the blankets and he promptly imitated them, as a cold wind
was beginning to blow down from the northwest, a wind that cut, and, at
such a time, a lack of protection from the weather might be fatal.

The warmth from the blankets pervaded his frame, and with the heat came
the restoration of his nerves. There was also a buoyancy caused by the
escape from the Sioux, and, for the time being at least, he felt a
certain freedom from care. His comrades and the animals did not stir,
and, while not thinking of sleep, he fell asleep just the same.

He was awakened by a long, fierce shout, much like the howl of hungry
wolves, and full of rage and disappointment. He sat up on his blankets,
and was amazed to hear the two men laughing softly.

"It's them thar Sioux, Will," said the Little Giant. "They've found out
at last that thar was no outlet at the end o' the pass, an' they've come
up it to the en