were going to be compelled to send
Marie back through a different gorge from the one by which she and
her associates had come over a few months before.

Here the party divided into two relays--one to accompany Marie close
to the top of the mountains, the other to remain where it was until
her guides returned. At this temporary base three Filipinos and two
pack-horses were left. The Filipinos thus left behind were instructed
to hunt and trap all they could till their comrades returned.

The on-going squad, consisting of Marie and five native soldiers, took
with them their six riding ponies and three of the pack-horses. They
departed from their comrades early in the morning, December 18. By
night of the second day they had gotten so near the crest they could
plainly discern that in one long march Marie could cross the divide
and get a safe distance down the slope on the opposite side. Coming to
an old stone church they dismounted and established themselves for the
night. It was December 19,--the anniversary of Lawton's death. Marie
remarked about it.

This old church had partly fallen down. Vines and mosses had so
interlaced themselves in climbing over its rocky walls and across its
openings that they had to be cut away by the unwelcome intruders before
they could gain an entrance. The stone cross on the front gable was
still in place; but the old mahogany door had long since been torn
from its hinges by the mountain storms, and it lay in a state of
decay on the ground. An earthquake had destroyed part of the roof,
and had caused the west wall to become inclined and to crumble.

Within, one end of the old altar was still found to be intact. The
priest's pulpit chair had become ivy-mantled, and one handle had rotted
from its fastenings and had fallen to the floor. Statues of the Saints
had pitched from their moorings in the alcoves along the walls and were
lying face-downward or standing on their heads amid the debris below.

What hands had built this old church, none could tell. It seemed
certain that no human being had entered it for over a century. The
mountain tribes who had lifted into place the huge chalk stones
that composed its massive walls, under the devout leadership of some
pious monk, for a place of worship, had long since perished from the
earth. The mountain game which rendered possible their habitation in
this altitude had vanished. Everything and everybody had evidently
given way before some fierce in