r you to keep 'em
quiet, while Giant and me scout about and see the lay of the land."

Will promptly accepted his part of the task. The horses and mules,
alarmed perhaps by such a wild and lonely situation, and tremulous, too,
from memories of that frightful climb up the cliff, crowded close about
him, while he stroked their noses and manes, and felt himself their
protector.

The hunter and the Little Giant vanished without noise, and Will waited
a full hour before either returned. But he was not lonesome. The horses
and mules rubbed their noses against him, and in the dark and the
wilderness they made evident their feeling that he was the one who would
guard them.

The noise of a light footstep sounded and the hunter, who had gone
south, stood before him.

"It's good news I bring," said Boyd. "We're cut off to the south by a
cliff that no one can climb, and it seems to run away toward the west
for countless miles. The Sioux can't reach us from that direction. Ah,
here is Tom! What has he to say?"

"What I hev to say is always important," replied the Little Giant, "but
this time its importance is speshul. A couple o' miles to the north a
great transverse pass runs out o' the main one, an' cuts off toward the
west. It's deep an' steep an' I reckon it bars the way thar."

"That being the case, we're on a peninsula," said Boyd, "and this
peninsula rises in the west toward very high mountains. I can see a
white dome off in that direction."

"All these facts now bein' diskivered," said the Little Giant, "I think
we've shook off them Sioux fur good, though thar ain't no tellin' when
we'll run afoul another bunch. But we'll take the good things the moment
hez give us, an' look fur what we need, wood, water an' grass."

"Wood we have all about us," said Will. "Water is bound to be plentiful
in these forested mountains, and we may strike grass by daylight."

They began an advance, making it very cautious, owing to the extremely
rough nature of the country, and all their caution was needed, as they
had to cross several ravines, and the ground was so broken that a
misstep at any time might have proved serious. In this manner they made
several miles and the general trend of the ground was a rapid ascent.
Toward dawn they came to a brook flowing very fast, and they found its
waters almost as cold as ice. Will judged it to be a glacial stream
issuing from the great white dome, now plainly visible, though far
ahead.

A sh