e situation in all its various phases.

Slowly the sun faded from view behind the distant mountains, casting
long shadows over the foothills and the level stretches beyond. The
night birds sang their parting song, and then came the almost utter
silence of the night.

"When do you suppose we'll reach Dottery's?" questioned Chet, after
several miles had been covered.

"If all goes well, we'll get there by one or two o'clock," returned his
brother. "You must remember we have Demon Hollow to cross, and that's no
fool of a job in the dark."

"Especially if the Demon is abroad," laughed Chet. He was only joking,
and did not believe in the old trappers' stories about the ghost in
hiding at the bottom of the rocky pass.

When darkness fell the hoofstrokes of the horses sounded out doubly loud
on the semi-stony road. Yet, to the boys, even this was better than that
intense stillness, which made one feel, as Chet expressed it, "a hundred
miles from nowhere at all."

So tired were the horses that the boys had their hands full making them
keep their gait. They would trot a few steps and then drop into a stolid
walk.

"I don't blame them much," said Chet, sympathetically. "It's doing two
days' work in one. But never mind, they shall have a good rest when it's
all over."

By ten o'clock it was pitch dark. To be sure the stars were shining, but
they gave forth but a feeble light. The boys had to hold their animals
at a tight rein to keep them from stumbling into unexpected holes.

"It will be nearer three o'clock than two before we get there at this
rate," grumbled Paul. "Just look ahead and see how dark and forbidding
the Hollow looks."

"Not the most cheerful spot in the world truly," rejoined Chet, as he
strained his eyes to pierce the heavy shadows. "Let us get past it as
soon as we can."

"Afraid, Chet?"

"Oh, no, only I--I would rather be on the level trail beyond the pass."

Paul said no more, having no desire to hurt his younger brother's
feelings. To tell the exact truth, he himself felt a bit "off." It was
growing toward midnight.

Down and down led the road, between two rocky crags. Soon the last trace
of light was left behind, and they had to let the horses pick their own
way as best they might.

Suddenly Chet gave a start and a cry.

"O, Paul, what is that?"

"Where?"

"Over to the left."

Paul turned in his saddle. As he did so an object not over two feet in
length and of a gray and white color