d him full of
doubts, till we turned a corner where the river made a sudden bend, and
Esau uttered a low cry.

"There it is," he said. "Hark!"

Sure enough there was the roar of a fall, and we knew that we had
reached the entrance of the little side valley, where the pool lay below
the falls.

Another minute, and we were passing through a clump of little fir-trees,
also familiar to us; and then Esau stopped short, for there was a bright
light just in front--a light which puzzled us for a few moments, before
we understood that it must be the reflection from a fire which we could
not see, shining in the clear waters of the pool.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

OUR WARNING.

After a whispered consultation we crept on again through the trees,
until we could see a good-sized fire blazing and sparkling close down by
the side of the pool, and about it--some asleep, some sitting resting,
and others talking--were a group of rough-looking men, whom we had not
much difficulty in making out to be our visitors at the Fort.

It was plain enough. They had come down after leaving us, and had
camped there for the night, perhaps found gold there; and this was their
station. If so, Gunson must be higher up and safe.

I whispered my ideas to Esau, who thought for a few minutes before
speaking.

"No," he said, "I don't believe they'd stop here. But p'r'aps they're
quite new-comers. What shall we do?"

"Get by them," I said resolutely. "We must hurry on to Mr Gunson now."

"But how?" he whispered. "Ain't they stopping up all the road?"

"Not all," I said. "Let's go down on our hands again, and creep by."

"All right, only you go first, and be careful. Mind, if they see us
they'll fire."

I don't know whether it was recklessness or desperation. I had felt
timid, and had shrunk from the task at first; but now that I felt I must
go on, the dread had pretty well passed away.

Going down on my hands and knees, I found to my great satisfaction that
the fire was invisible; and if so, of course we must be out of sight of
the men about it. I whispered this to Esau, who responded by a grunt,
which, added to his position, made him bear a strong resemblance to an
animal, and for the moment it amused me, and took my attention from the
difficulty of my task.

We had had to leave the track, and our way was amongst blocks of stone
covered with moss, between which short stiff patches of bush grew,
making our passage difficult, and