ts
would permit.

For a quarter of an hour the party toiled up the steep ascent, pausing
now and then to pluck a flower, or to look back on the wild path by
which they had come, until they reached a ridge of rock, beyond which
lay a small lake or pool. So dark and still did it lie within the
shadow of the overhanging cliffs that it resembled a pool of ink. Here
the adventurous explorers sat down to recover breath, and to gaze in
childish delight, not unmixed with awe, at the wild scene around them.

The peculiar wildness of the spot seemed to exercise an unusual
influence over the dog; for, instead of lying down, as it was wont to
do, at the feet of its young mistress, it moved about uneasily, and once
or twice uttered a low growl.

"Come here, Chimo," said Edith, when these symptoms of restlessness had
attracted her attention; "what is the matter with you, my dear dog?
Surely you are not frightened at the appearance of this wild place!
Speak, dog; see, Arnalooa is laughing at you."

Edith might have said with more propriety that Arnalooa was laughing at
herself, for the little Esquimau was much amused at the serious manner
in which her Kublunat friend spoke to her dog. But Chimo refused to be
comforted. He raised his snout, snuffed the air once or twice, and
then, descending the gorge a short distance, put his nose close to the
ground and trotted away.

"That is very odd of Chimo," said Edith, looking into Arnalooa's face
with an expression of perplexity.

As she spoke Okatook pointed, with an eager glance, up the ravine.
Turning her eyes hastily in the direction indicated, Edith beheld a deer
bounding towards them. It was closely followed by a savage wolf. The
deer seemed to be in the last stage of exhaustion. Its flanks were wet
with moisture, its eyes starting from their sockets, and its breath
issued forth in deep sobs, as it bounded onwards, seemingly more by the
force of its impetus than by any voluntary exertion. More intent on the
danger behind than on that which lay before it, the deer made straight
for the pass in which the three girls stood, and scarcely had they time
to spring to the sides of the cliff, when it swept by like an arrow.
Instantly after, and ere it had taken two bounds past them, the wolf
sprang forward; caught it by the throat, and dragged it to the ground,
where in a few seconds it worried the noble animal to death. It is
probable that the chase now terminated had begun at ea