d had the inner circle; when he rounded the fires and struck
the hill his start was perilously slight. While the footing was soft
he urged the wearied horse up the slope; at the first rocky space he
abandoned the poor beast lest the floundering of shod hoofs should
betray him. He took off saddle and bridle; he hung the canteen over
his shoulder and pressed on afoot.

A light breeze had overcast the stars with thin and fleecy clouds.
This made for Pringle's safety; it also made the going harder--and it
would have been hard going by daylight.

The slope became steeper; ledges of rock, little at first, became
larger and more frequent; he came to bluffs that barred his progress,
slow and painful at best; he was forced to search to left or right
for broken places where he could climb. Bits of rock, dislodged by his
feet, fell clattering despite his utmost care; he heard the like from
below, to the left, to the right. The short night wore swiftly on.

With equal fortune John Wesley should have maintained his lead. But
he found more than his share of no-thoroughfares. Before long his
ears told him that men were almost abreast of him on each side. He
was handicapped now, because he must shun any chance meeting. His
immediate neighbors, however, had no such fear; they edged closer
and closer together as they climbed. At last, stopped against a
perpendicular wall ten feet high, he heard them creeping toward him
from both sides, with a guarded "Coo-ee!" each to the other; John
Wesley slipped down the hill to the nearest bush. His neighbors came
together and held a whispered discourse. They viewed the barrier with
marked patience, it seemed; they sat down in friendly fashion and
smoked cigarette after cigarette; the hum of their hushed voices
reached Pringle, murmuring and indistinct. It might almost be thought
that they were willing for others to precede them in the place of
honor. A faint glow showed in the east; the moon had thoughts of
rising.

After an interminable half-hour the two worthies passed on to the
right. Pringle took to the left, more swiftly. Time for caution
had passed; moonlight might betray him. When he found a way up that
unlucky wall others of the search party farther to the left were well
beyond him.

Perhaps a quarter of a mile away, the last sheer cliff, the Thumb
which gave the hill its name, frowned above him, a hundred feet from
base to crest. Pringle bore obliquely up to the right. Speed was his