s
over and strike the other stream."

"Right," said Mr Raydon at once; "that will be better. All ready?
Ammunition?"

"Ready! ready!" rang along the little line.

Mr Raydon nodded.

"No talking, and go as silently as you can; sound travels in these high
parts, and we do not know how high up the scoundrels may be camping.
Now, understand once more--single file till we cross over into the other
valley, then spread out as widely as the place will allow, and keep as
level a line as possible. The object is to drive these men back to the
mining party, and not one must break through our line now. You lead. I
trust to you to get us well over into that valley."

The man who had spoken of the branch from the stream stepped to the
front, rifles were shouldered, the word was given, and with Mr Raydon
next to the leader, and I behind him, carrying a spare rifle and the
surgical case, the advance was begun.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

A NEW ENEMY.

We had not lost more than a quarter of an hour in this halt; but it was
sufficient, as I found when I rose, to have cooled me down and made me
feel fresh and ready for the arduous climb that we now had to make. Our
path was along by the stream for a time, but more often right in it, for
the valley grew narrower, and was frequently little more than a gigantic
crack in the mountain-side; but so beautiful that I often longed to stop
and gaze at the overhanging ferns and velvety moss by some foaming fall,
where the water came down from above like so much fine misty rain.

But there was no halting, and we kept on till the leader suddenly turned
into a gloomy niche on our left, out of which another stream rushed; and
here for some time we had to climb from rock to rock, and often drag
ourselves on to some shelf by the overhanging roots of trees. The
ascent was wonderfully steep, and sometimes so narrow that we were in a
dim twilight with the sky far away above us, like a jagged line of
light. As for the stream in whose bed we were, it was a succession of
tiny falls now, and we were soon dripping from the waist downward.

But no word was spoken, and the men worked together as if trained by
long service to this kind of travelling. When some awkward rock had
been climbed by the leader, he stopped and held down his hand to Mr
Raydon, who sprang up and offered me the same assistance, while I,
taking it as the proper thing to do, held my hand down to the next.

For full two hours we